


Always by My Side

by WindChimeGhost



Series: Bringing Up Loki [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Action/Adventure, Author-insert, Cuddling, Dark, Drama, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Loki (Marvel)-centric, Non-Sexual, Original Character - Freeform, Original Characters - Freeform, Original villain - Freeform, Physical Abuse, Self-Insert, Slavery, Slaves, Spanking, Thumb-sucking, Torture, abusive use of spanking, farm, ghost - Freeform, haunted, original villianess, spank
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-07-01 09:19:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15771192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindChimeGhost/pseuds/WindChimeGhost
Summary: ~ A story that's based on some of my personal daydreams. Does NOT follow the canon storyline.~This fic is part of my 'Bringing Up Loki' series. It's not required, but I do recommend reading the short stories in the first fic first before reading this one (especially the first story). Otherwise, you might not understand everything going on.Loki and I are kidnapped by an evil woman, who forces us to work as slaves on her plantation. If we mess up or refuse to do as she requests, Loki pays dearly for it.WARNING: Canon character and fangirl interaction. Self-insert/author-insert. Lots of non-sexual/non-romantic cuddling, pampering, and babying of an adult trickster by a fangirl. Also includes graphic scenes of abusive use of spanking. Don't like? Don't read.





	1. Madame Touconte

**Author's Note:**

> ~ Comments are welcomed. But critique is not desired ~
> 
> **WARNING!!: This fanfic is not for everyone! Warnings are here for a reason, and I ask that people heed this and take time to read before continuing past this point. This fanfic is dark, contains a cruel, sadistic villainess, and contains a lot of hardcore scenes depicting abusive use of spanking. Some scenes WILL be graphic and hard to swallow. If this disturbs you, makes you feel uncomfortable, or offends you, then please do not read or leave comments/reviews. Just hit your back button. You have been properly warned, so any bashing, flaming, or rude comments that are posted anyway will be ignored and deleted. This fanfic is fictitious and was written purely for entertainment value.**
> 
> **This fic also does not follow the MCU storyline and contains self-insert/author-insert. If this isn’t your cup of tea, don’t read and/or comment.**
> 
> **NO LOKIS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS FANFIC!!!** I wasn't harmed, either. Don't worry.
> 
> This fanfic is pretty different from what I normally write and features a lot of darker content and controversial subjects. But it’s meant to be that way for a reason. I wanted it to be strong in the hurt/comfort department. Before anyone gets upset at the content in this fic, I ask that you PLEASE read my author’s notes here at the beginning. They will explain things in more detail.
> 
> I’m finally uploading this fic. It’s been hard for me to write on a lot of levels due to the emotional strain it requires (Naturally, I did NOT enjoy doing any of this to Loki. A lot of scenes have ripped my heart out). It’s part of the same continuity as my ‘Bringing Up Loki’ short stories. In fact, I wanted to upload more stories into the other one before I uploaded this fic, but oh well. This story is supposed to take place on into the ones in the ‘Bringing Up Loki’ series.
> 
> I’ve spent a VERY long time trying to construct this fic and get it out in writing. I started writing on it maybe ten years ago? Yeah, it’s been a while. o-O When I first started writing it, I originally had another character as my partner. Then I put the fic in storage for a long time when I got busy with other things. A few years ago, I decided to drag it back out and start reconstructing it again and finally get somewhere with it. And it was then that I decided to change my partner to Loki. Not only because I’m heavily into him currently, but his character just fit the role better than who I previously chose.
> 
> I also, sadly, lost some parts of the original draft of this fic. Back when I first started writing it, I was using my ancient palm computer. And it died before I could save and backup some of my documents I had on it. So I had to dig deep into my memories and try to reconstruct some of the good scenes I lost and still wanted to keep as part of the story.
> 
> But I wanted to get this story out in a written form for myself. At first, I didn’t plan to upload it anywhere publicly since it’s somewhat of a personal story that would only have meaning to me. But then I thought…well, I’ll upload it anyway. Maybe someone out there will enjoy it, too.
> 
> Madame Touconte (pronounced: two-con-teh) is a villainess who randomly appeared from the darker regions of my mind to be the main antagonist in a lot of my daydreams that feature me going on adventures with my favorite characters. She’s wicked and evil, and even gives me the creeps. It’s hard for me to believe she came out of my own imagination sometimes. *shudder* If you grow to hate her after reading this fanfic, don’t worry. She’s meant to be loathed. She’s one of those villains you’re allowed to hate. By all means, dislike her all you want.
> 
> For those who might be wondering. I DO have a lot of the chapters already written down in rough draft form, so I should be able to make regular updates to this story. I just need to do edits to each one first. I actually didn’t want to upload this fic until I got most or all of it written up. But I decided to go ahead and upload the first couple of chapters, just so I can go ahead and create its place on here. I’ve been on a roll this week writing up a bunch of chapters for it. And I now feel like I’m far enough ahead that I can start uploading some. I want to go ahead and start uploading it so I can finally feel like I’m moving forward with it.
> 
> And, yes, the character narrating this story IS myself.
> 
>  
> 
> Loki © Marvel
> 
> Fanfic, plot, and the characters of Touconte and the maids and Harold ©2018 by me (please do not take, use, or edit without permission)

[ ](https://imgur.com/Q5CmjEH)

When you’re being kidnapped, you don’t really remember much after it all happens. It’s like a bad dream that’s left behind blurry, broken pieces in your mind—pieces that you try to piece together to make sense.

The two muscular men, who grabbed me and Loki just as we came out of the theater, shoved us in the back of a black Escalade. I remember Loki putting up a fight, but he lost. If he had his magic he probably could have won, but since he was now mortal…he never stood a chance against the bulk of the two thugs. They easily knocked him and me unconscious when we attempted escaping the car.

When I finally woke, I groggily looked around at my new surroundings. Fear coursed through me, as did a myriad of emotions and questions. Where were we? Why did these people kidnap us? Is Loki all right? What were they going to do to us? Who _were_ these people, anyway? Would someone eventually find us?

…Are we going to die?

I felt around. They took my purse…and my cell phone. Of course they did. Can’t have the person you kidnapped calling the police.

My head throbbed something horrible, and I felt dizzy, almost nauseous. I winced, putting my hand behind my head and feeling the tender lump that was there. Groaning, I turned over. The first thing I saw was Loki lying beside me, still unconscious. I instantly felt some amount of relief knowing he was with me. At least they didn’t separate us. I pulled myself up to a sitting position and leaned over him. I ran my hand over his hair and kissed his forehead, then I sized up the place.

We were in the entry foyer of what looked like a Victorian farmhouse. It was huge…like, mansion huge, and it smelt old. There was also a curious scent of mulberry mixed in. Directly above was a small chandelier, and around the green striped walls were several closed doors that led to who knows where.

The thugs who kidnapped us stood guard near the front door and watched us.

I pulled myself to my feet, albeit shakily, my tennis shoes squeaking on the hardwood floor.

Loki groaned and began to stir. I leaned over and helped him to stand.

“Where are we?” he murmured.

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “But we aren’t alone.”

Loki looked over at the thugs. Immediately, he went into protection mode, grabbing hold of me and pulling me next to him. I admire him for trying to protect me, but it’s not like it would have helped our situation. Both of us wobbled on our legs like a pair of drunken flamingos trying to dance to disco. A mild wind would have easily toppled us before Loki could take his first swing.

Then, as if on cue, _she_ appeared on the landing at the top of the curved staircase behind us.

To the average person, she looked like a slim, tall, frail old woman with a long face that had as many wrinkles as a raisin. Her unmoving frown was equally long and wrinkly. A sharp, bird beak nose protruded from the center, with a pair of rimless spectacles perched atop it. Her gray hair was tied up in a tight bun at the top of her head. To complete the whole look, she wore a slender black one-piece dress that made her look like an archdeacon of a monastery. Something about her appearance reminded me of the stepmother in Cinderella…or the schoolmistress of nightmares, I couldn’t decide which. Either way, I expected to see Lucifer the cat trailing behind her.

In her right hand, she carried a riding crop. At the time, we failed to understand the importance of this implement, or why she was even carrying it. Had we known what her intentions were and how nasty a person she would soon turn out to be, we would have turned and bolted out the front door, fighting our way through the two men.

But we didn’t.

Instead, we stood there and stared at the woman as she silently and slowly made her way down the long staircase as if hovering by an unseen evil force.

I could have sworn I felt the room turn ten degrees colder the moment she stopped in front of us.

Looking from me to Loki and back again, she drew her head back as if she were about to burst into song.

“I see you are awake,” she said in a fluid, snooty voice. Just hearing her speak was enough to send chills down my spine. I wasn’t sure why. “My name is Madame Touconte, and I expect you to address me by that name the whole time you are here.” She took her riding crop and placed the end of it under Loki’s chin, lifting his face up to meet hers. “Do you understand?”

Loki stared at her a few seconds, chewing at his lip. Finally, he breathed out, “I will address you in whatever way I please, and you can’t make me do otherwise.”

Touconte lifted an eyebrow as if the answer had offended her. She turned her gaze up to the maid standing at the top of the stairs, who I hadn’t noticed until that moment. “I finally have one of them, but he is a little disobedient, do you agree, Madison?”

The young girl nodded hesitantly in agreement and said, “Yes, ma’am.”

I couldn’t tell if the reaction was done out of respect or fear. Something deep inside me told me it was the latter.

“Disobedient, brash, and disrespectful,” Touconte went on, her nostrils flaring outward. “I should have expected it coming from a trickster.”

Loki blinked in surprise, throwing a questioning look at me. He was obviously thinking the same as I: who _was_ this woman?

We stood still and watched carefully as Madame Touconte circled us like a vulture, eventually coming to a stop behind us. Loki was about to turn around and look at her, but I shook my head for him to remain as he was. I wasn’t sure what she had planned, but something told me she wouldn’t appreciate us staring at her.

To this day, I can honestly say that nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. Actually, I had no idea what had happened until after it was over.

There was the sound of a loud smack, and Loki uttered a sharp cry of pain before quickly throwing his hands behind him. He spun around and backed away from the woman.

I moved closer to him, trying to keep as much distance between me and her as possible.

It was then that I understood what had happened. Madame Touconte had brought her riding crop down sharply on Loki’s rear end.

We eyed the ominous implement as she waved it in front of us.

“Let us get one thing straight,” she said coldly, her eyes fixed on Loki. “You are at my mercy now, and I expect complete obedience. If I hear any more backtalk or smart answers, your posterior will pay dearly. Do I make myself clear?”

Loki huffed angrily, his brow drawing down in a scowl. “Are you mad? How _dare_ you address a prince of Asgard in that way! I’m at the mercy of no one, woman! I don’t even know you. I—”

Touconte reached forward, grabbed hold of Loki, spun him around, and bent him over. She brought her riding crop down on Loki’s behind repeatedly in quick succession. The implement made a muffled popping noise on his jeans each time. Despite himself, Loki yelped at the pain.

Within that split second, my motherly instincts kicked in. I rushed forward and grabbed the riding crop and attempted to wrench it from her unsightly hand. 

“Stoppit!” I shouted. “You’re hurting him! He hasn’t done anything to deserve what you’re doing to him!”

In doing this, several things happened. First, I quickly discovered she was stronger than she looked. I’m not sure how. Maybe she takes a lot of vitamins or something. She tried to push me away, but I held on. This, in turn, made her let go of Loki, who stumbled away. But no matter what, I held on to the crop. Finally, one of her henchmen came up behind me and clamped both hands on my arms and pulled me away, shoving me toward Loki.

I took a few seconds to glance at the trickster. His face was red and his hands held his injured bottom. Locking eyes with the woman, he silently dared her to repeat the action.

I gently gripped his arm and pulled him closer to me.

“What is _wrong_ with you?” I said to Touconte. “I won’t deny his reply to you was rude, and I apologize for that, but he definitely didn’t deserve what you just gave him.”

She turned her cold, hard gaze toward me as if she just realized I was standing in the room. “I am trying to teach him some manners,” she said evenly. “You are right. He was rude. And I aim to correct that.”

“What do you want with us?”

Touconte’s lips curled into a devilish smile as she backed away and cradled her precious crop in her arms. “We have much to discuss.” She turned to address the men behind her. “Bring them to my office. I think it best we continue this conversation in private.”

And just like that, she lifted the skirt of her dress and walked across the room.

The thugs walked toward us, grabbed us by the arms and pulled us along behind her. I couldn’t help but keep my eyes on the woman—Madison—at the top of the stairs. She watched us with pity in her eyes, all while nervously twisting the bottom of her shirt. It was almost like she was watching us being dragged off to our own execution. And that made me even more concerned. What secrets did she know? Had she witnessed Touconte treat others in this manner?

Touconte opened the door to a small room on the left-hand side (if you were facing the stairs) of the foyer and shut the door after the men brought us inside. It was dark until she turned on the small lamp setting on a large, heavy looking wooden desk in the center of the room. The place was stuffy and smelt of stale air.

She sat down in the plump chair on the other side of the desk and motioned for her men to seat us in the chairs in front of the desk, and they did. They forced us hard and held us down with one hand on our shoulders.

“Now,” Touconte continued, “I am sure you have questions, which you will get to ask in time. But first, I will inform you that both of you will be living here and will be working for me. I expect you to do your utmost best. If you do not, he”—the old woman pointed her crop toward Loki—“will get a round of my riding crop on his backside. Is that understood?”

I swallowed, glanced at Loki, and nodded. “Y-yes, ma’am.” I wasn’t sure what we’d gotten ourselves into, but it didn’t sound good…for either of us. And why was she so bent on harming Loki?

“Good!” she said cheerfully. “At least _you_ have some manners.” She placed her crop on the desk in front of her. “During your stay here, you are free to move about as you wish but do not set foot off the property. You will get up at five o’clock every morning on the dot, come downstairs, eat breakfast, and start your daily chores. If you ever set foot off the property or are ever late, your cute friend’s backside will pay for it.”

Again, Loki and I exchanged nervous glances.

“So, let me get this straight…” I started…slowly, “We’re allowed to go anywhere and do whatever we wish, but if we do anything wrong, try to escape, or are ever late to attend our duties, Loki will get spanked?”

“You are correct,” Touconte nodded. I felt Loki move restlessly beside me.

“Why?”

“Because that is how we operate around here.”

“That isn’t fair. Loki shouldn’t be punished just because we don’t do as you request of us, or make mistakes.”

“Life is not fair.”

“That’s beside the point. What you’re doing is wrong. You’ve kidnapped us and brought us here against our will, which in itself is a crime. And now you’re holding us captive and threatening us in order to force us to do work for you. When they find us, you’ll go to prison, I hope you know.”

“What makes you think they will ever find you?” Touconte said coldly. Her answer was enough to make me shrink back. Seeming to be satisfied that it shut me up, she turned to Loki. “As for you, young man, I will have no tricks or funny business, understand?”

Loki blinked, not sure what to say. Although I could tell he was too scared to say much of anything. We both were.

“You will answer me when I speak to you,” Touconte said sternly, picking up her crop. “Or do I need to bend you across this desk?”

Loki’s eyes widened and darted between the crop and Touconte. He swallowed, glancing my way once. “Y-yes, ma’am,” he quickly replied, putting his hands under him. He gave me a glance before turning to look at the woman again.

“Good.” Touconte laid down her crop again. “I am glad you understand.”

“You don’t have to worry about him. He’s mortal. He has no magic currently,” I said. Although I wish he did, I thought.

“Is that so?” Touconte looked at Loki thoughtfully. “I was wondering why he reacted to my crop so easily.”

“Ma’am, please don’t hurt him,” I pleaded. “He hasn’t done anything against you. He—”

“ _That_ is for me to decide,” Touconte said sternly, cutting me off. “Now, if both of you will go out in the foyer, Madison will show you to your rooms.”

Madame Touconte motioned for her men to let us up. When they stepped away, we slowly stood and walked to the door and out into the foyer. Madison was waiting for us and gestured for us to follow her up the staircase.

Loki idly rubbed his rear. He hesitated a second or two and then hurried to take his place beside me. My first reaction was to wrap an arm around him and give him a hug, but I knew it would be best to wait until we were in private. So instead, I gave his arm a gentle squeeze. I didn’t dare do anything that would give Touconte an excuse to whip him. I wasn’t sure yet what we were up against. I still had a lot of questions, most of which I knew Touconte would probably avoid answering. For now, I decided to play it with a cautious hand until I had a chance to figure out things.

Without very many words passed between us, Madison showed us our rooms and where the bathroom was located. Afterward, she quickly left us to do whatever we wanted, not daring to say more than was necessary. I couldn’t help noticing she fumbled a lot and constantly played with her sleeves. She acted like she wanted to speak—to say more—but she held back.

My room was about medium sized and was nice and comfortable. There were two beds placed next to the farthest wall, a night table separating them in the center. A dresser occupied the wall near the door, and a fireplace filled up the wall opposite. A rocking chair and two regular chairs sat near the hearth.

The room had a hardwood floor with a well-worn and dusty looking throw rug in between the beds. The walls were painted white. And the only window overlooked a vast field with a wooded area in back of it. Much to my disappointment, no other houses were within view. Just trees, fields, and hills as far as the eye could see.

A light tap at my door made me turn around. I walked over and opened it. Loki stood in front of me. He sniveled and wiped a tear from one of his eyes. I smiled sweetly and allowed him to come in, glancing down the hallway once to make sure no one had seen us. I quickly shut the door behind him and locked it.

That’s when Loki let himself go. His sobs came jerkily and hitched. I ran over to him and threw my arms around him and began soothing him.

“Shhh, it’s okay, sweetie,” I whispered to him while easing him down on one of the beds. “I know you can’t help it, but be careful or that old woman will hear you.”

“I-it hurt!” he said through his tears and sniveling.

“I know, I know.” I got him to lie down, and I gently began rubbing and soothing his poor bottom. “Unzip your pants, and I’ll take a look,” I whispered. Letting out a rather loud sniff, he did as I said. I gently tugged down his jeans and underwear.

“Any damage back there?” he meekly asked, a hint of embarrassment lacing his words.

“No, nothing but…” I paused, “a touch of redness. I think your jeans padded most of the impact.” I lovingly scritched his left butt cheek, pulled his pants back into place, and patted his bottom.

Loki buried his face in the bed’s pillows and let a few more tears roll down his cheeks. “She’s evil,” he muttered, placing his thumb in his mouth. I smiled. Even though I was used to seeing him suck his thumb, it never failed to tug at my heart.

I lay down beside him and ran a hand through his hair. “The question is: what do we do now?”

“Go to sleep,” Loki grumbled, the thumb in his mouth muffling his words. “I’m tired.”

I ruffled his hair. “It’s not time to go to sleep, silly.”

“Who cares? It’s better than being awake in this place.”

I couldn’t argue with that. My smile faded, and I moved to get comfortable, pain shot through my head when I leaned back, and I winced. Loki moved closer, snuggling up beside me and nuzzling his nose to mine. I kissed his cheek and wrapped an arm around him.

“No matter what happens, Loki,” I whispered, “I’ll always be here by your side.”

“I’ll always be by your side, too,” he said around the thumb in his mouth, rubbing his head against mine.

I stretched a hand out to massage between his shoulder blades and the back of his neck. Slowly, I could feel his muscles relax and the tension seep away. I sat up and moved my hands down his back.

“What did she mean by ‘I finally have one of them’?” he asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between us.

I shrugged. “Asgardian? Frost Giant? Norse god? Who knows?” I scratched around his ear. He closed his eyes and smiled, uttering a small sound of satisfaction.

“So, what’s your theory on all this?” Loki asked.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure. It’s clear we’re being held prisoner here. For what, I don’t know.”

“She said something about us working for her. D-do you think we’re being turned into slaves? I don’t want to be a slave. I had enough of that under Thanos and the Chitauri.”

I continued massaging him as I spoke, giving his shoulder a loving squeeze when he mentioned Thanos and the Chitauri. “I dunno. One thing’s for sure...she gives me the creeps.”

Loki nodded, then looked toward the window. “Do you have any idea where we are?”

“Nope, not the slightest. All I saw when I looked out the window are fields and trees. Looks like we’re in a house in the middle of the country—basically nowhere.”

“Wonderful.”

“We could go exploring—check out the house.”

“Let’s not do anything that would make her use her riding crop on me,” Loki said, uttering a slight whimper.

“She said we’re allowed to go anywhere as long as we remain on the property. What could it hurt to scope out the place? I feel like we’re going to spend a lot of time here before we find a way out so it might do us good to familiarize ourselves with these new surroundings. Besides, I want to learn more about these people, see what we’re up against. And maybe we can find a map or a clue of some kind that will tell us where we are.”

“All right,” he said, finally giving in. He reached under him to zip up his jeans.


	2. Madison

We walked down the hallway, quietly, keeping our eyes and ears open. Loki eased his hand into mine. I closed my fingers around it and gave it a squeeze.

In the distant, we could hear the voices of women in one of the rooms somewhere—the maids, most likely. One of them said something I couldn’t quite make out and the rest burst out in laughter.

This part of the house was no different from the lower half. It looked and smelled equally old. It also had the same pukey green striped wallpaper.

The hallway stretched out in front of us was empty and lined on both sides with closed doors—antique wood, from the look of them. The lamps jutting out from the walls looked like gas-turned-electric.

I stopped and nodded toward a door on our left-hand side. Loki backed up and let me open it. The room on the other side was dark aside from the light that crept in around the drawn window shade. That’s all I needed to see it was an unused bedroom. At least, I assumed it was. It looked awfully clean to be unused. The canopy bed in front of us was dressed in frilly yellow lace and a matching silk comforter.

“The more I see of this place, the less it makes sense,” I whispered. Loki nodded in agreement. “Do all of these doors lead to bedrooms?”

We walked a little piece down the line and opened another door that, again, led to an unused bedroom. A third door also led to a bedroom.

Finally, we stopped at the top of the stairs and prepared to go down, but heard the women laughing again. This time they sounded closer.

I looked at Loki. He shrugged like he didn’t really care what I decided to do. So I tugged on his hand and led him farther down the hall, stopping in front of a door on my right. It was cracked a little. I put my hand on it and pushed.

Everyone inside stopped talking and looked in our direction. Madison was there, as well as three other maids.

“I-I’m sorry if we interrupted anything…” I said. “We heard you laughing, so I thought…”

Their lips curled into smiles.

“No, no, come in,” said Madison. “Be sure to close the door all the way.”

The women giggled and whispered to each other when Loki stepped in. I closed the door behind him.

“What’s so funny?” Loki asked.

“Nothing,” Madison replied with a grin. She gave her friends a knowing look and a wink. Then she gestured to the small couch on her left. “Please, have a seat.”

I walked up behind Loki, putting my hand on his lower back to push him forward. He looked at me, and I nodded.

Madison got up from her chair, offering it to Loki. “You can sit here if you like.”

Loki was hesitant. He looked at the chair and then to the maid.

She nodded that it was okay.

The other women giggled again, causing Loki to turn around and look at them, his brow knitted in confusion. Madison stifled a laugh. I have to admit, I was on the verge of giggling myself when I finally understood what was ailing the maids.

Loki turned a questioning look to me. “What’s wrong with them?”

I grinned. “I think it’s you.”

“Me?”

I uttered a small laugh and played along. “You’re scaring me, Loki. You’re the only man in a room full of women, and you can’t figure it out? They’re admiring your handsome body, which I can’t blame them.” I gave Loki’s bottom a firm yet playful pat, which caused the maids to giggle louder. It made me feel good. Somehow I had the feeling they needed a good laugh.

Loki grinned and turned a reddening face to look at the women. He puffed up like a rooster in a hen house, then sat down in the chair offered to him by Madison.

“As you already know, I’m Madison,” said the maid. She pointed to the others. “These are my friends and colleagues, Rachel, Lucy, and Emily.”

I nodded to each one as Madison introduced them. “I’m Mel,” I said. “And this fine specimen here is Loki.”

The maids giggled.

“Oh, we know who he is,” Madison grinned. “Touconte has talked for a long time about capturing a Norse god.”

I moved uneasily, and so did Loki.

“Don’t worry,” said Rachel. “We don’t agree with what Touconte does.”

“You’re cute,” Madison said to Loki. She smiled and ran her hand over his hair. Loki’s cheeks turned the faintest red at the compliment and he glanced over at me. I smiled. “As your friend surmised, we were admiring your handsome features. We couldn’t help noticing when you walked in that you have a cute butt as well—too cute to be in this place.” The odd comment made Loki look up at her. She turned sad eyes to me as she continued to gently comb her fingers through his hair. “You’re fortunate to have him. I’m just sorry you had to end up here.”

“Where _is_ here?” I inquired.

Madison sighed heavily and wearily, and she moved around behind the chair to massage Loki’s shoulders.

One of the other women, Lucy, answered instead, “We’re forbidden to speak about it with the captives, at least when it comes to the exact location. But as for this place in general, I would personally call it hell. Hell would be a good word for it.”

Emily and Rachel nodded their agreement.

That didn’t help to ease my mind one bit.

“Touconte kidnaps people, brings them here to make them slaves,” Rachel added. “None of us have been able to get away.”

“Some of us have been here for years,” said Emily.

“She only targets those who have male partners,” Madison went on to explain. She smiled down at Loki and pulled his hair back into a ponytail before letting it fall around his neck again. She continued to massage him, Loki thoroughly enjoying every moment.

“Why?”

Madison shook her head. “Enough,” was all she said.

“That’s all we can say for now,” Rachel whispered, stealing a glance at the door as if she expected Touconte to be listening on the other side. “We can only divulge info a little at a time. Otherwise, it could mean big trouble for us if Touconte or her thugs ever found out.”

“But…I have so many questions,” I said. “One of them is: will we ever get out of here?”

“Like we said, some of us have been here for years. We’ve tried to escape, but it’s no use.”

“Some of us have stopped trying because it hurts too much,” Madison added.

I turned to her. “Touconte spanks you, too?”

She shook her head, running her hands down Loki’s back. “No, never the women. Only the men.”

My brow wrinkled. “Is there a reason for that?”

“She’s a sexist hag,” Lucy spat. “Sees herself and all women being above men.”

“So…that means?”

“You’re safe from her crop,” Madison answered. “But Loki isn’t.” She gently massaged her fingers into Loki’s temples.

“But that doesn’t mean she won’t harm you in other ways if you refuse to do what she wishes or mess up,” Emily added. She touched a long scar on her cheek that I hadn’t noticed until she laid her fingers on it. “See? She hit me with her crop after I accidentally spilled a pail of milk.”

“Do all of you have men?” After I asked the question, I realized how awkward it sounded. The air was quiet for about a minute.

Madison moved uneasily as she continued pampering Loki.

“Yes,” she said softly. I could tell she was holding back tears.

“And some of us used to,’ Rachel added sadly.

I suddenly understood what Madison meant by it hurting too much. My eyes moved to Loki.

“Normally, Touconte is careful,” Madison continued in a low voice. “She cruelly tortures whatever male partner you have, no matter the relation—husband, boyfriend, brother, son—as a way of gaining and maintaining control. If you love him enough, you will give in to be her slave and do whatever she wishes in order to protect him from being hurt. She plays on people’s love.”

“That’s just sick,” I breathed out, not sure I heard her right. I felt my stomach turn over as the words left my mouth. “What did you mean by normally being careful?”

The maids all exchanged looks with each other.

Lucy was the one to answer my question. “Naturally, Touconte’s methods only work as long as your partner is alive. She plays on love, so there’s got to be a connection between the two of you. So she will keep him alive for however long she wants you to be a slave. If he dies, there’s nothing there to keep her hold on you. And she knows it. But…” she faltered, trying to push the next words out, “there have been instances where…someone didn’t make it.”

“Touconte killed them?” I whispered.

“In a way yes,” Madison said. “There was one man who did die from the stress and pain Touconte inflicted on him. But we’ve had a few others to commit suicide just to get out of the torture.”

At these words, a few tears trailed down Rachel’s cheeks. She lifted her hand to paw them away.

“Rachel’s husband threw himself out the barn loft window two years ago. Broke his neck,” Emily explained. She patted her friend’s back.

I was beginning to understand more than I wanted to understand. The chill I felt earlier was growing colder the longer the maids talked. My eyes shifted to Loki again. He was still basking in the pampering Madison was lavishing on him as if he didn’t have a care in the world. But his eyes briefly cracked opened to throw me a look of worry, letting me know he was following the conversation.

“If…your husband’s dead, then…doesn’t that mean you’re free of Touconte’s hold? Why are you still here?”

Again, the maids all exchanged glances.

“There _is_ one small catch,” Emily said. “She’s not going to let you go easily. You might tell the authorities.”

“So…” I was starting to put two and two together, and I didn’t like the outcome. “You either stay here and continue working for her or…”

“She will kill you.”

I leaned back. Under the circumstances, I think I would have chosen death than being in this place, but I didn’t say that out loud.

I stood up, walking the short distance to stand beside Loki’s chair. I leaned over and planted a kiss on his forehead, then held out my hand. “Come on, you. We probably need to get back to our rooms before Touconte comes checking on us. I think we’ve taken up enough of these good ladies’ time.”

Loki whined. “Do we have to?”

“Yes, come on.”

Madison smiled and finished up her pampering, patting Loki’s shoulder. “Listen to your friend.”

Reluctantly, Loki stood up and took my hand.

“You can have more pampering later,” I reassured him. “I’ll give you some before bed if you want.”

He nodded and turned to Madison, politely thanking her for the kindness she showed him. The other maids were starting to giggle and whisper again.

“Oh, by the way,” I said. “Is there a way I can get an ice pack for my head? It’s still tender from when Touconte’s thugs knocked me out.”

“I need one, too,” Loki added.

“Sure thing. I’ll bring you one shortly,” said Madison.

We left and went back to my bedroom, where we spent several hours sitting and discussing our predicament. I should add that our conversation didn’t go without its moments of crying and feeling the smothering clutches of fear. We tried hiding it, but both of us knew the other was secretly afraid. I knew Loki was. The conversation we had with the maids disturbed him a lot more than he let on.

Once we tired of talking, we moved on to discuss a way out. We went back to exploring a few of the bedrooms down the hall, subtly looking out all available windows, trying to figure out the location and lay of the land—anything that would help us know where we were. But each time, our view was met with the same: nothing but trees, hills, and open fields and farmland. And nothing looked familiar. It was at this point that we started to fear Touconte had taken us to another state—maybe even another country—during the length of time we were knocked out. Unless we could find a map, there was no telling where we were. But one thing’s for sure, we were way out in the country—in the middle of nowhere.

I really wasn’t sure what time it was since there were, oddly, no clocks around in any of the bedrooms. Okay, there was an antique one setting on the mantel in my bedroom, but it was ancient and dusty and was no longer working. The glass on its face was so fogged from grime and soot that I could barely make out the numbers. So I had to go by the setting sun.

When it was close to being almost dark outside, there was a knock on the door.

I’ll confess. Loki and I jumped to our feet, fear washing over us at not knowing what to expect. I just hoped Touconte wouldn’t spank Loki for being in my bedroom.

Needless to say, we were both relieved when Madison stepped through the doorway. We visibly relaxed.

“You were expecting Touconte, weren’t you?” she said, our actions not going unnoticed by her.

“Yes.”

“Don’t worry. You won’t see her until tomorrow morning. She has a way of disappearing for a long period of time, only showing up when she needs to flaunt her authority or check your work.” She set a small fold-up table near the fireplace. “I thought you’d like some dinner.”

At her mentioning dinner, my stomach began to growl.

I glanced at Loki and smiled. I could tell he was feeling the same way. “Yeah, I think we would enjoy that. I actually can’t remember the last time I ate.”

“Me, neither,” Loki added.

Madison hurried out into the hallway and fetched a tray, bringing it back inside the room to set on the table. “Then, please, sit down and enjoy,” she said, after arranging the plates and pots and silverware.

Everything smelt wonderful, and we eagerly seated ourselves around the table.

“Thank you,” I said.

“You’re very welcome. I will leave you alone, then, and come back later to gather the dishes.”

When Madison left, we turned our attention to our meal, grateful to have something to eat, and grateful to have something to momentarily take our minds off our current problems.

I lifted the pot lids, inhaling whiffs of steamy vegetables and some kind of pot roast in gravy. There were also rolls and iced tea.

“Is it safe to eat anything in this place?” Loki suddenly asked.

“I trust Madison,” I replied, spooning out some of the food to put on our plates.

“She could be tricking us,” Loki pointed out.

I couldn’t argue with that. He could be right. “You’re a trickster. Can you tell if she’s faking?”

He gave a slight shrug, picking up a roll and taking a cautious bite. “I can sense she’s telling the truth. If anyone is lying, I would know. And I _do_ trust her.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. We need at least one person in this place we can trust and confide in.” I took a forkful of the roast and put it in my mouth. “Mmm…tastes homemade.”

For the next hour, we enjoyed our dinner without interruption. Aside from small talk, not much was said between us. We’d already discussed important issues prior, and we were also worn out from the day’s events.

After eating, we made separate trips to the bathroom down the hall, to wash up and prepare for bed. Since Touconte expected us to be up early, we figured we needed to get in the habit of going to bed at an earlier time…even though I’m not sure what the exact time was.

Bedding arrangements became the top issue a few minutes later.

“I don’t want to sleep in my room,” Loki said tearfully, sounding like a child.

“Aw, I’ll be right here next door to you,” I said.

“I don’t care. I’m afraid—afraid of what Touconte might do,” he whispered. “I…don’t want to be alone.”

I touched his cheek sympathetically and ushered him to the spare bed next to mine.

“You can sleep in here with me.” I smiled. “Though, I’m not sure what Touconte would say about it.” The thought worried me. “Were you given pajamas?”

“Yes,” he answered.

“Go change while I change into mine.”

By the time Loki got back, I was pulling up my pajama pants. He was dressed in the pajamas given to him, carrying his clothes in his arms.

“Just put your clothes over there,” I said, pointing at the rocking chair. He unloaded his clothes, hanging them on the back and putting his shoes beside the chair. Then he walked around to stop in front of me. I stood and gave him a hug and a back scratch.

I couldn’t resist giving his bottom a few love pats as he rolled into bed and snuggled underneath the sheet. When he looked up at me again, his lips were curved into a smile. Scooting over, he patted the mattress for me to join him.

“Only until you go to sleep,” I said, pointing a finger at him. I sat down on the bed and rested my back against the headboard and put an arm around him. Loki snuggled next to me, nuzzling my shoulder and sticking a thumb in his mouth.

“I wish I had Vidar,” Loki whined tearfully.

I patted his back. “I know, but at least he’s safe at home.”

Loki mentioning his stuffed toy suddenly reminded me that we only had one pair of clothes each, and nothing else in the way of necessities. Maybe Madison could do something about that. I would have to ask her.

I lovingly ran my hand over Loki’s hair, combing my fingers through it and massaging his neck a little. His muscles relaxed.

There was a light knock on the door, which startled me at first. But then I remembered what Madison said about Touconte, and also remembered that Madison was due to pick up our dirty dishes.

“Come in,” I called.

The door opened, and Madison walked in carrying a small tray. She closed the door with her foot.

“I thought you might like a snack,” she whispered, smiling when her eyes landed on Loki. “Aww. Is he…sucking his thumb?” Judging from her voice, I wasn’t sure if she was amused or confused by this action. Maybe it was a mixture of both.

I smiled and nodded. “Just…don’t let him know that you know. He doesn’t like for just anyone to know.”

Madison nodded that she understood. “And don’t let Touconte know, either. She’s strict when it comes to little things like that.”

“Why am I not surprised?” I mumbled.

Madison sat her tray on the night table. “I’m not supposed to be doing this.”

“I won’t say anything,” I assured her.

“Milk and cookies,” she offered, stepping away.

“Thank you.” I slowly ran my hand over Loki’s hair and kissed his forehead lightly. He moved in his sleep and nuzzled his face deeper into my side.

“He’s your baby, isn’t he?” Madison asked, smiling.

I kissed Loki’s head again and nodded to the maid, returning the smile.

“Please take my advice. Don’t do anything to upset Touconte. She _will_ give him a hard time.”

“Is it true that—”

“Yes, it is,” Madison cut off my question before I could finish asking. She moved around to the other side of the bed and began tucking in the covers around Loki. “She _will_ spank him for everything that displeases her.” She glanced at Loki’s bottom as she worked with the sheet. “Just… If you love him as much as I think you do, don’t do anything that would set her off.” She reached out and patted Loki’s leg when she finished. “I don’t want to see him hurt. There have been men to walk through these halls that have been seriously injured by Touconte. Ordinarily, I’m all for spanking, when it’s needed and administered properly, of course. But what Touconte does…” Madison swallowed, twisting the sleeve of her shirt. “She misuses spanking. Just don’t get on her bad side, okay?”

I nodded, not knowing what else to do.

“I’ll bring you some blankets. It’s going to be chilly tonight.” Madison left the room for a few minutes, coming back with an armload of blankets. She deposited one on my bed and then moved around to unfold and drape one over Loki, tucking it in around the mattress.

“Um…is there a way we could get extra clothes?”

Madison nodded. “I’ll see what I can do about that. If at anytime you need clothes washed, be sure to place them in the basket by the door.” She pointed at a wicker basket. "Either I or one of the other maids will take them, wash them, and have them returned to your room."

“All right.”

When her task was finished, Madison gathered the dirty dishes from our dinner, bade us goodnight, and left.

I reached over and picked up a cookie, poking it into Loki’s face. I thought he was asleep, but apparently not. He groggily opened his eyes, took his thumb out of his mouth, and happily accepted the treat.


	3. First Day in Hell

Knowing our situation, and the fact we were sleeping in a strange house, I wasn’t expecting to get much sleep.

I was wrong.

As soon as Loki fell asleep, I moved into my own bed, curled up under the covers, and was soon out like a light.

I didn’t wake up once.

Not once.

That’s why our wake-up call shaved a few years off my life.

All I remember was nearly jumping out of my skin and being startled awake from hearing the door to my room burst open with a loud bang against the wall. It was enough force to wake the dead.

I was in that confused state where you’re half asleep and half awake; not fully realizing where I was or what was going on. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to adjust to the bright daylight, while I felt around for my glasses.

At the same moment, I felt the heavy footsteps of someone approaching the beds, then heard the covers being ripped off the bed next to mine.

What came next was a startled squawk and a sharp squeal of pain from Loki’s mouth.

I jolted upright and nearly flew off the bed. If I hadn’t been awake a few seconds prior, I was definitely awake now.

And that’s when I heard the slapping.

I finally located my glasses and shoved them on my face. The first thing I saw come into focus was Madame Touconte holding Loki down on the bed with her left hand while she repeatedly smacked his backside with her crop… _hard_. Loki flailed and wailed in agony while clawing at the bed sheets and whatever else within reach that he could get his hands on, his legs kicking at the air and the mattress.

I blinked, my mind struggling to wrap itself around what I was seeing.

My reaction was sluggish, but I finally forced out a loud, “STOP!”

I wanted to add more, but I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth. All I could do was stand and stare at the dark woman across from me…who was injuring my baby for no reason.

Madame Touconte surprisingly did as I requested. She stopped her assault on Loki’s butt and let him go. The trickster went limp, his face buried in his pillow. Loud sobs met my ears.

“Why?” I breathed out, barely containing the anger welling up inside me. “What did we do? If you’re going to cruelly beat his rear, then at least tell us what we’ve done to displease you!”

Touconte stood, nostrils flaring, and tilted her head back. “You are late getting up. I told you specifically that you are to rise at five o’clock. It is now six-thirty! Let this be a lesson to both of you that I will not tolerate tardiness and disobedience in this house.”

I glared at the woman. 

“On top of it, _he_ is in _your_ bedroom. I thought I assigned rooms for each of you.”

“You did.”

“Then why is he sleeping in yours?” Touconte’s eyes widened.

“Because he wanted to,” I answered flatly. It was the truth. She had no business knowing the rest of it. “You told us we could go anywhere we wanted. You didn’t say we had to stay in our assigned rooms.”

She didn’t say anything. Instead, she smacked Loki’s butt two more times.

“OUCH!” Loki screeched out. He flung his hand back to rub out the sting.

I assumed Touconte meant for that to be her answer…

She pointed to the rocking chair and Loki’s clothes slung over the back with her crop. “And what is that?”

I wasn’t sure what she meant. So I said something dumb, like, “Uh…”

“Clothes are to be properly folded and put away in the dresser drawers.” She gave Loki’s backside three more smacks, causing him to scream out again. He twisted in her hold, trying to put his bottom out of reach. But it was no use. She violently jerked him over, stomach down, and pinned him to the bed. She applied five more swats as punishment for him attempting to evade her.

“Do that again, and you will be sorry,” she warned darkly. Loki cried loudly like a little child, his breath hitching.

My jaws worked. I wanted to do something—anything. I was Loki’s guardian, and it was my job to protect him—look out for him. Frigga put me in charge of doing that when she dropped Loki off at my house. I felt like I was failing that job. But what could I do? Intervening might do more harm than good in this situation.

Touconte finally let go of Loki, huffed, lifted the skirts of her black dress, and shuffled out of the room.

Before leaving completely, she turned to face us again. “Since you are late, you will not get any breakfast, but instead will report for work in the kitchen. The cook and other maids will tell you what your work is for the day.” She turned and walked out, slamming the door behind her.

Loki choked out a sob into his pillow once he heard her leave.

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed his head and rubbed his back and tried my best to soothe him and comfort him in whatever way I could.

Then I turned to his bottom. Gently, I pulled down his pj pants to check the damage. His once pale butt was now pinkish-red where the crop had made contact. Long, ugly welts were already forming. I gritted my teeth and hissed. More anger swelled up inside me. I placed both hands on his bottom and began rubbing as delicately as I could, hoping it would help to rub out the stinging and burning he was undoubtedly feeling.

“Owwwwww….” Loki groaned, choking.

“It’s all right, sweetie, everything’s okay now,” I cooed softly.

“W-why?” his muffled voice asked. “I didn’t do anything wrong! I was just sleeping! And who cares if the clothes are hanging on the chair or in the dresser??”

“She’s sadistic, Loki. That’s why. She isn’t spanking you because you did something wrong. Real spanking is given out of love and the pain is temporary and doesn’t leave damage.” I moved locks of hair out of his face. “You already know that because I’ve had to spank you quite a few times—because you were truly doing something wrong. What Touconte is doing is not given out of love. It’s given out of hate. She’s misusing spanking and turning it into abuse. You need to remember that.”

“But…why?” Loki choked out. He searched my face with watery green eyes, waiting for an answer.

I hesitated, choosing my words carefully. “Because some people are just evil like that. They enjoy inflicting pain on those they see as weaker than themselves. It gives them a false sense of power and authority.”

“Just like Thanos and the Chitauri,” Loki whispered. “Ant and boot…”

I gave a sad smile that vanished quickly. “Yes. You’ll find people like that on every realm, unfortunately. Earth, especially, is full of them. Our history is riddled with them. It’s one of the unpleasant parts of life. The good part is they usually meet their downfall quickly.” I finished soothing his backside and pulled up his pants. “Speaking of which, I guess we need to get up and go downstairs before Miss Meany decides to come back up here. I don’t think your butt needs another spanking right now.”

I felt Loki shudder as he lifted his head from the pillow and turned to look at me over his shoulder. His face was red and tear-stained, a few tears rolling down his cheek. Instead of the tough and cunning trickster I knew him to be, he now looked like a frightened child. My heart went out to him. I ran my hand over his hair, brushing a stray lock behind his ear. “It’s all right, sweetheart.” I kissed his cheek. “It’s all right.”

It didn’t take us long to get dressed. Fear was a great motivator to get us moving, especially when it came to Loki. He had a hard time squeezing his smarting rear into his jeans, but he still managed despite the pain.

When we arrived in the kitchen, we were met with the bustling of cooks and maids. They hurried to and fro, preparing whatever we were going to have for lunch.

It was a small old-fashioned kitchen with not much room to move around. There was a long wooden counter in the middle. A quaint stone hearth occupied the wall on the farthest right. And lining the other walls were more modern appliances such as a stove, sink, and refrigerator, along with counter space and a great many cabinets. Pots and pans and other cooking ware and utensils hung in whatever empty space was available on the walls and even on hooks above the center counter.

Loki walked up behind me, hesitating in the hallway as if he expected Touconte to be there.

“She’s not here, baby,” I whispered, motioning for him to come closer. He walked forward, pressing up against my back, and poked his head inside the warm room. I could feel him grip the back of my shirt. He always did that when he followed behind me. I smiled and reached a hand back and patted his leg.

Madison was the first maid to see us, which I was glad. Something about seeing her after what we just experienced gave me comfort.

“Good morning,” she greeted when she approached us. She took one glance at Loki’s wet face and turned a questioning look to me.

“She spanked him for us sleeping late,” I answered her unasked question. “Hard.”

Madison didn’t look at all surprised. She just gave us both a look of pity and mumbled a faint, “Awww” under her breath.

“She also told us we aren’t to have breakfast,” I continued. “And we’re to report here for our chores.”

Loki knuckled his eyes, wiping away a few tears, and sniffled.

“Come with me,” Madison said, glancing up at Loki.

She led us to the other side of the kitchen, near the pantry doors. Here she told us to sit in some of the chairs placed around the wall. We did so. Or at least I did, anyway. Loki remained standing, moving his hands behind him.

Madison disappeared inside the pantry for one reason or other. I guess our first job would be peeling potatoes or something.

“Here.”

The deep voice made me look up.

The cook was handing me an ice pack. He waved it toward Loki. “Your little friend looks like he could use it.”

I took it and looked at Loki. His face flushed, and he peered around him at everyone staring back at us.

“It’s okay,” the cook said sympathetically. He was a large, burly man, who looked to be in his late forties. His hair was dark gray and greasy. “I’ve been where ye’re standin’ right now.”

The female maids turned their heads and busied themselves with their work.

Loki slowly turned away from everyone and unzipped his jeans. I quickly pulled down his pants in the back enough to slip the ice inside his underwear, trying to keep the whole process as modest and as discreet as possible, for Loki’s sake. He stiffened when the cold came in contact with his skin, then he visibly relaxed. I could tell by his reaction that it gave him much needed relief. He placed a hand on his rear to hold the pack in place.

I patted his back.

“Ol’ sadistic, sexist witch,” the cook grumbled under his breath. He shook his head sadly and turned back to his work. “I’m surprised ya made it this far,” he said louder, to us.

“What do you mean?” I questioned.

“Some of the prisoners Touconte brings here don’t make it past tha first couple o’ days.”

By this point, I really didn’t want to know what he meant by that. I already heard enough from the maids the night before to last me the rest of my life.

“Are all of you prisoners?” I asked.

The cook nodded. “Been here longer ‘n’ anyone.”

“Does she spank you, too?” Loki mumbled.

The cook harrumphed. “Spank is not exactly the word I would use for it. Spankin’ is what ya give to naughty children. What Touconte does gives spankin’ a bad name. But, yes. Like I said, I’ve been where you are. I’ve felt tha she-devil’s crop more times than I’d like to admit.” He slapped his rather large, muscular behind. “Good thin’ my bum can take it.” He turned and sized Loki up with one sweep of his eyes. “You, on the other hand, look so frail and thin. You be careful, you hear?”

I wrapped an arm around Loki and pulled him closer to me.

Madison returned and offered us some rolls and a couple small containers of mixed fruit.

“Here,” she whispered. “This should hold you over until lunch. Don’t mention it to Touconte.”

“Thank you,” I said, taking the food and giving Loki his share.

The maid smiled at us. “Don’t mention it. I know what it’s like. My boyfriend and I went through the same thing the first morning after we arrived here.”

“Boyfriend? Where is he now?”

Madison hesitated, then said quickly, “He’s around.”

I didn’t pry further as she pushed past us.

Loki and I ate quickly, fearing Touconte would show up and see us. Loki removed the ice pack from his pants and thanked the cook.

The older man nodded. “By the way, tha name’s Harold.”

“Loki.”

“I’m Mel,” I said.

“Welcome to tha club,” said Harold sarcastically. “I should say hell.”

“So, what are we supposed to do?”

Harold nodded in Madison’s direction. “She’s gettin’ yer buckets.”

Buckets? So we were to wash floors…or windows.

“Here,” Madison said after returning. She placed a bucket of soapy water in my hands, turned, and did the same to Loki. She gave us each a scrub brush. “Touconte wants both of you to scrub the kitchen floor.”

“Great,” I mumbled.

“This is ridiculous,” Loki griped, holding his bucket away from him like it was contagious. “Why do I have to do it? I don’t want to get down on that filthy floor.”

“Loki, this is not the time or the place to go through this,” I chided. “You already know that if you don’t, Touconte will blister your rear.”

“But…this is beneath me.”

“A little work never hurt anyone. All we have to do is scrub the kitchen floor. You’d better be glad she doesn’t have us outside shoveling manure or something.”

“But…”

I turned a sharp look to him. “Loki. Please, just…do it.”

He fixed me with an exasperated stare, his mouth flattening into a straight line. I could tell he wanted to argue the point but was keeping himself in check.

“Best we get started before Touconte comes in,” I added.

We got to work, starting near the door with plans to work our way back to the pantry. Loki mumbled a few more complaints under his breath as he got down on the floor and dunked his brush in the soapy water. The sight of it disgusted him, although I’m not sure what the difference was between it and him bathing himself in the shower. He hadn’t even used it on the floor yet.

No sooner had we got started than Touconte made her appearance. We knew right away when she walked in.

The room immediately fell silent.

Only for a brief second.

Then the cooks and maids busied themselves with their chores as if the woman wasn’t even there.

Loki and I didn’t look up. Instead, we continued scrubbing around the baseboard. Loki dipped his brush in his bucket and nervously focused on the floor in front of him, never mind that it was the same spot he already scrubbed.

Unfortunately, Loki’s rear was turned toward Touconte at that moment, as he was leaning on hands and knees. And he realized this a moment too late.

With a smug smirk, Touconte lowered her riding crop and tapped it against Loki’s butt. Loki blinked nervously, continuing to dip his brush in the soapy water and slathering the same spot of the floor with another dose of suds. His hands trembled.

“It pleases me to see you have started,” Touconte said in her dry voice.

“Not like we had a choice…” Loki whispered under his breath.

I’m not sure how she heard it, because I barely heard it. But Touconte did.

“Ouch!” Loki yelped. He dropped his brush and straightened, grabbing his rear. He glared dangerously at Touconte, but the woman stood unmoving, her gaze even more dangerous.

She pointed at the bucket and brush. “Unless you want more pain applied to your backside, I suggest you shut your mouth and get back to scrubbing.”

And just like that, the Wicked Witch of the West turned and was gone.

“Are you okay?” I asked Loki softly.

He hesitated, rubbing his backside. Finally, he nodded. “Yeah. It didn’t hurt too badly, thanks to my jeans. Most of the pain came from the whipping she gave me earlier.” He picked up his brush and continued cleaning the floor in silence.

It didn’t take us long to finish the kitchen floor. We learned from Madison that Touconte ordered us to clean the bathrooms once we were done with the kitchen.

I ignored the long string of complaints from Loki.

“I’m not going to scrub out a toilet!” he griped angrily while I gathered our supplies.

“Like you said earlier: we don’t have a choice,” I reminded him, holding out a bucket.

He heaved a long sigh and tore the bucket from my fingers. “It’s so humiliating,” he grumbled under his breath.

“Which is more humiliating? Cleaning the bathroom or you standing around holding an ice pack on your butt?”

He shot me a glare and said nothing.

“Come on. The sooner we get started, the sooner we get done.”

Much to Loki’s dismay, I suggested we split up and take one bathroom each. He didn’t want to. He wanted to be near me, which I couldn’t blame him. But I told him we could get done faster if we split up.

Finally, he gave in. I took the bathroom on the first floor while he took the one on the second. We agreed to tackle the third together.

“How you doing?” I asked Loki once we finished and met outside the third bathroom. We stood there a few minutes to rest and catch our breath, while we prepared our supplies.

“Fine,” he answered gloomily. “Tired and dirty, but fine.”

“Touconte hasn’t bothered you?”

Loki shook his head. “No. I haven’t seen her since she paid us a visit in the kitchen. Thank goodness.”

“But I still have this weird feeling that she’s watching us,” I whispered, pulling on a fresh pair of rubber gloves.

“Me, too.” Loki glanced down the hallway.

“How’s your bottom?”

“Feels better.” He felt of his rear, tugging at the seat of his jeans. “Although I could do with another ice pack later tonight.”

I smiled, patting his arm and giving it a light squeeze. “I’ll tell Madison to bring one when she brings our dinner.”

We walked into the bathroom.

“I’m not cleaning another toilet,” Loki breathed out.

“I’ll take the toilet. You take the tub and shower.” I got down on my knees and prepared to scrub the outside of the toilet bowl.

“So, have you seen a way out of here?—a map or something?” Loki asked.

“No,” I replied. “I have a feeling that maps are hidden in a good place in this house. There are a lot of people around here who’d like to get their hands on them.”

“And don’t you find it strange that we haven’t seen any of the other workers?”

“Slaves, Loki,” I corrected, dipping my brush in my bucket. “Workers are people you hire and pay to do work and allow to go home after they’ve completed their hours.”

“Whatever. You know what I mean.”

“I overheard a couple of the maids talking outside the bathroom downstairs that Touconte moved most of the slaves out in the fields this month, to harvest wheat and other grains. They’re camping out there until they get the work done. And that’s why Touconte hasn’t been around here much. She’s busy overseeing the field work.”

“Do you think she’ll do that to us?” Loki asked, a worried look washing over his face.

I thought for a minute. “I-I don’t know. For now, it seems like she’s content to make us work in the house. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

Loki nodded.

 

It felt good to take a hot shower that night and wash off the sweat and grime. I’m almost sure I had at least four inches of it on me.

Touconte made us work up until eight o’clock without so much as a break unless it was to use the bathroom or eat a seven-minute lunch. During those brief moments, we milked it for as long as we could get away with.

When we finished cleaning the bathrooms, we had to dust, vacuum, polish the chandelier, and a slew of other small chores. We tried not to complain. It gave us a good chance to see parts of the house we hadn’t ventured into yet. Just so it would be worth our while, and to make the chore much more productive, Loki and I kept our eyes open for anything that might be of use to us, like maps. But, sadly, we didn’t find much of anything. The rooms Touconte ordered us to clean didn’t have anything in the way of maps or other clues pointing to where we were. Bummer.

Touconte made an appearance when we were done, to check over our work and give her appraisal. I never felt so tense in my life. We were relieved when she found the work satisfactory enough that she left Loki’s butt alone.

I secretly hoped we could get away that easy every time.

After showering and changing into our pajamas, we were more than ready for dinner. We were exhausted and starving. The good part is we made it through our first day without Loki getting spanked again. But he was still uncomfortable from the one Touconte woke him up with that morning.

I was in the middle of checking out Loki’s bottom when Madison came in through the door.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. She stepped back into the hallway. “Pardon me. I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay, Madison, you can come on in,” I called. I pulled Loki’s pants up.

“I brought the ice pack, as you requested.” Madison stepped back into the room and handed it to me.

“Thank you,” I said, accepting it.

“I also found some extra clothes for both of you. I hope they fit.” She shifted the wad in her arms, depositing it on the bed. “If you give me your clothes, I’ll clean them through the night and have them here by morning.”

“Thank you. You’ll find our dirty clothes over there in the basket like you wanted.”

“I’ll bring your dinner in a few minutes.” Madison turned, grabbed up our dirty clothes, and left.

I pulled down Loki’s pants again and applied the ice pack.

He stiffened. “Oh, that’s cold.” He sighed in bliss. “But it feels sooo good.”

“Do you want me to wrap it in a washcloth?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Come here,” I said, pulling him by the arm to one of the chairs around the table. “Here, sit. Gently.”

Loki held the pack of ice next to his rear and sat down. I pulled his pants up in the back.

“Better?” I asked.

He nodded, smiling.

I patted his back and rubbed circles into it.

Madison gave a quick knock and then entered, setting down the tray on the table. “Here we go.” She threw Loki a sweet smile. “Is the ice helping?”

Loki’s cheeks flushed red, and he cleared his throat. He shifted on his chair. “Uh, yes, thank you.”

Madison’s smile turned somber. “No need to be shy. It isn’t the first time I’ve given a man an ice pack in this place.”

Loki coughed.

“Here, sweetheart, I swiped this just for you.” Madison pulled a cupcake off her tray and placed it beside Loki’s plate. “Harold made a batch for Touconte. I’m not supposed to give you one, but I am. You deserve it more than Madame Touconte.” She ran a hand over his hair and set to work putting the rest of the food on the table. “If you need anything, just let me know,” she said before leaving us.

We enjoyed our dinner in much the same fashion as we had the night before, speaking very little. There really wasn’t much to talk about. And we were too exhausted to do much more than small talk.

When we finished and cleaned up, I sat behind Loki on his bed and massaged his shoulders and neck.

“Did you enjoy the meal?” Madison asked, coming into the room to retrieve the dirty dishes.

“Oh, yes! We certainly did. Be sure to thank Harold for us.”

“And how are you doing, Loki?”

“I’m doing okay,” he answered.

“Enjoy the cupcake?” she smiled.

Loki returned the smile. “Yes, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Madison admired Loki. “You sure are a cutie.”

Loki smiled shyly at the compliment. I scritched my fingers down his back, making him straighten up.

Madison laughed. “I’ll leave you two alone. Goodnight.”


	4. Cows are Not Our Best Friend

I don’t know how long I slept. After putting Loki to bed, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow again, that’s all I know.

I suddenly opened my eyes for no reason and saw daylight in the distant outside the window. My body wanted to sleep longer, but something told me—screamed at me—I needed to get up. Without a clock, I didn’t know what time it was. Judging from the rising sun, I knew it had to be close to five.

I yawned and threw off my cover and stood up. I walked the short piece to the side of Loki’s bed. In the semidarkness, I could see him sleeping on his stomach, thumb in mouth, his blanket and sheet half hanging off him. I reached out and scritched his butt and ran my hand up to pat his back.

“Sweetie,” I whispered in his ear, “time to get up.”

He mumbled in his sleep, moving his legs around. He put his pillow on top of his head.

“Come on, Loki, get up,” I said a little louder. “If you don’t, Touconte will come in here and spank you again.” I threw off his cover. Then I turned on the bedside lamp and picked up my glasses.

Loki winced, shielding his eyes. “It’s too early,” he complained.

“I know, but it’s what the old hag wants.” I gathered my clothes and headed toward the door. I paused a moment to make sure the rest of our clothes were neatly put away in the dresser drawers like Touconte wanted.

After washing up and changing, I returned to the bedroom…only to see Loki had fallen asleep again. My heart skipped a beat. It was getting lighter outside.

I quickly tossed my nightclothes on the bed, grabbed Loki’s shoulders, and shook him. “Loki! Get up!” I pulled his arm. He mumbled sleepily and pushed me away.

I let him go and busied myself with making my bed as fast as I could. Somehow, deep down, I had a feeling Touconte would show at any moment.

And I was right. I hate being right sometimes.

As soon as I finished with my bed, I heard footsteps in the hallway. Not just any footsteps, but heavy ones. For a frail looking old woman, she sure walked heavy.

“Loki, get up. Get up now!” I said frantically. “She’s coming.”

“Okay!” Loki snapped. He moved to a sitting position on the side of the bed, his long hair all askew. “What’s wrong?”

“Touconte’s coming!”

“What?! She is?!” Loki’s eyes widened and he bolted to his feet. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’ve been trying!” I said through gritted teeth. “Here, put on your clothes, quickly!”

“But…”

“Go on. Hurry! I already know what your rear looks like.”

Loki turned away from me and dropped his pajama pants, struggling to pull on his boxer shorts. He was going much too slow for me, so I grabbed hold of them and yanked them up for him, much to his surprise. He yelped.

“Sorry,” I apologized, my cheeks flushing. Sometimes it’s easy to forget men have sensitive parts down there…

No sooner had I pulled them up than Touconte came barging into the room without knocking. For someone who wanted everything prim and proper, she was incredibly rude. No surprise.

Loki let out a surprised cry and pulled the blanket from his bed to cover himself.

The woman stood in the doorway, sizing us up like she was about to cook us for Thanksgiving dinner. A part of me would not have been surprised if she did.

Without realizing, I slowly eased myself down on my bed.

“I see you are up earlier this time,” Touconte said calmly. Her eyes shifted to Loki. “And some of you are actually dressed.”

Loki swallowed, backing up against the bedside table.

Without saying a word, Touconte walked forward. She swept the room with her eyes, nodding at it being in the proper order she wanted.

“Clothes are put away. Good,” she said. “One bed has been made. Also good.” She looked straight at me. “Cleaned and dressed. Very good.” She turned to Loki. “And now to deal with _you_.”

“No, no, please,” Loki whimpered. He attempted backing away, but he had already reached his limit, nearly sitting on the night table. “I’m getting dressed! See?” He threw away the blanket and reached down to pick up his jeans.

It wasn’t satisfactory to Touconte, however.

“I will not put up with your excuses. I told you to be up at a certain time.”

“Please…”

“I want you to be dressed, cleaned, and have your bed made.” She grabbed Loki by his left bicep and flung him facedown across the bed…and briskly whipped his rear with her crop.

Loki screamed out loudly and kicked his feet.

“I expect you to be dressed on time!” Touconte repeated, bringing down her crop again, harder this time. Loki squealed, flailing around even more.

I sat unmoving and stared. Again, I wanted to do something. I wanted to stop her. But I didn’t dare. If I interfered, it might cause her to whip him more. I couldn’t risk it. I never felt so helpless in all my life. Tears formed in my eyes as I was forced to watch the scene.

“Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes! I understand!” Loki sobbed out. “Just stop! Please stop!”

“Good,” Touconte gave a single nod. She brought the crop down five more times on the underside of Loki’s rump and stopped. The trickster was close to sliding off the bed from his wild struggling, but Touconte held him in place with a firm grip on his arm. “Now, get your clothes on. I want you two to get outside and milk the cows. After that, you will spend the rest of the morning in the garden, picking vegetables.”

“But…I don’t know how to milk cows,” I said.

Touconte proceeded to whip Loki’s behind again…for no apparent reason. Loki squalled and kicked with each burning strike.

My mouth dropped open as I looked from him to Touconte. “What did I do??”

She stopped and shoved her ugly face into mine. “You will learn how to milk those cows, do I make myself clear?” She gave Loki’s bottom two more strikes to help her words sink in.

“Okay! Okay, I’ll learn. Just…stop!” I squeaked out in a watery voice. Anything to get her to stop. “Stop hurting him, please.”

Touconte pulled Loki up and shoved him onto the bed.

I swallowed.

“You have not seen anything,” she said darkly, her eyes boring a hole through me, studying me. “You think I am hurting him now? If you are not in the kitchen in five minutes, I will come up here and set a fire to his posterior with my crop!” She waggled the horrid thing in my face.

I opened my mouth and closed it again. A cold sweat beaded on my face. “Y-yes, ma’am.”

“Good.”

“W-w-what about breakfast?”

“You will have to get up earlier if you want breakfast!” Touconte shouted angrily. She stormed out, and I could have sworn the room grew ten shades lighter.

I threw myself across Loki and wrapped him in my arms, kissing his face. “It’s okay, she’s gone,” I choked out. “My poor baby. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know she would do it over me admitting I don’t know how to milk cows.”

Loki wanted to say something…tried to, but the pain in his backside prevented him from doing more than gasping out a watery sob.

I pulled down his boxers and looked at the angry red welts lining his cheeks. It made me grimace. Not knowing what to do, I placed a hand on his bottom and gently rubbed.

Loki hissed, then relaxed.

“Feel better?” I asked.

He nodded.

“We don’t have much time to spend on it. Maybe we can get an ice pack from the kitchen before we go outside,” I whispered. I rubbed his bottom a little longer and pulled up his shorts. “Come on. You need to get dressed. We need to go downstairs so you won’t get more.”

I helped Loki to stand. He was still crying, tears and snot both streaking down his face, but he was trying his best to hold it in. While he busied himself with pulling on his jeans, I pulled strands of hair off his wet face and tucked them behind his ears. I wiped his nose and cleaned his face.

“There you go,” I cooed softly. I handed him his T-shirt and socks and shoes. “Here.” I moved to begin making up his bed for him.

Loki hurried as quickly as he could. Afterward, we made a quick stop at the bathroom on our way downstairs, not having time enough to do more than relieving ourselves.

We made it down to the kitchen on time…just barely. We had time enough to ask Harold for an ice pack, which Loki hid until we were walking out the back door, toward the barn. Once inside the barn, Loki wasted no time unzipping his pants and putting the ice pack in place. Relief washed over his face.

“Be careful, and don’t let Touconte see you,” I told him. “I’m sure she’ll use that as an excuse to whip you, too.”

Loki nodded. “I’m sure she will.” He winced. “Ow!”

“Here, let me see again.” I moved Loki into a remote corner of the barn, where no one could see us if they walked by outside. Here I pulled down his pants in the back enough to look at the damage. It looked worse than it had in the bedroom, the welts being puffier, larger. The most damage was on his underside, close to the backs of his thighs. One thing was for sure. He wouldn’t be sitting for a few days. I took the ice pack and placed it in that area, holding it in place for a few minutes.

While I held the ice to his scorched skin, I scritched the tops of his butt cheeks playfully, making him squirm and giggle.

“Stop it,” he said, smiling.

“Just trying to bring a smile to that sweet face of yours.”

“I can take over,” he said softly, reaching back to grab hold of the pack. “Thanks.”

I scritched my fingers across the small of his back and up his back. “Come here, you.” I gestured for him to bend forward, and I planted several kisses on his face and ruffled his hair. “I love you, cuddle bean.”

Loki’s smile grew wider.

The moment was broken by a faint mooooooo. We turned to face the stalls in front of us…and the cows inside them. Large silver pails were in front of each stall.

“I don’t know how to milk a cow,” I told Loki. “I’ve seen it done on TV, but that’s it.”

“I do.”

I turned a puzzled look to him over that admission. “When did you ever milk a cow?”

“I used to watch the maids do it back on Asgard when I was a kid.”

Just then, we heard footsteps outside the door. Someone was approaching.

“Quick! Pull up your pants,” I told Loki. He fumbled, trying to pull the ice pack out and pull up his jeans at the same time.

“No need to worry,” said a familiar voice. We looked…and saw Madison.

She smiled. And we felt relieved that it wasn’t Touconte.

Madison brought a tray in and set it on a hay bale. “I know Touconte has forbidden that you eat breakfast, but I can’t stand by and watch you starve.”

“Won’t you get in trouble for doing all this?” I asked.

“Probably,” Madison replied as she uncovered plates of bacon and eggs and toast. “ _If_ she finds out, but she isn’t going to find out.” She reached and picked up an unlabeled jar that held some kind of jelly substance. At first, I thought it was jam. She looked at Loki. “I brought this. It’ll help take away some of your discomfort.”

Loki looked at the jar. “W-what is it?”

“It’s a medicinal salve. Some of us came up with it and made it ourselves, to help out those who need it.” She took the lid off and stuck her fingers in and scooped out a small glob, setting the jar aside. “May I? Or would you rather Mel do it?”

Loki’s cheeks turned pink, and he gave me a glance. He cleared his throat, shifting on his feet.

“It’s quite all right,” Madison said, smiling at Loki’s timidity. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, believe me. I’ve applied this stuff to quite a few rumps around here. But if you’d rather she do it, then I’ll understand.”

Loki looked at me again as if to get my permission. I smiled and gave him a nod. Slowly, Loki turned around, pulling his pants and shorts down enough so Madison could apply the salve.

“My, you _do_ have a cute butt,” Madison whispered admiringly.

Loki quickly pulled his pants back up, turning around to give Madison a wary look.

“Loki…” I sighed. “Let her put the salve on.”

“But she said my butt’s cute.”

“So? I think it’s cute, too. Now, pull your pants down and show it to us so she can put the medicine on.” I gave his arm a swat.

Loki hesitated, then pulled his pants down again. He glanced over his shoulder, his cheeks flushing redder. He cleared his throat. “I actually fail to understand how someone’s butt can be cute. I mean, doesn’t everyone’s look alike? It’s not like your face, where there are actual details.”

Madison and I gave each other a knowing look and giggled.

“Yours is just special because it’s little,” I said. I reached out and lightly ran the tip of my finger across the top of his bottom.

He stiffened and turned around. “What was that for?”

“For having a cute heinie.”

Loki gave me a perplexed look, but I could tell he secretly enjoyed it. “Midgard women are weird.”

“Aw, come on. You like the attention. You’re just pretending you don’t.” I gave his bottom a pat. “You little liar.”

Madison chuckled over the interaction between us.

Loki stuck out his tongue. He rolled his shoulders, shifting on his feet. “Okay! So I like the attention. Uh…you want to tell me more about how cute I am?”

Madison and I laughed.

“Sure,” I said. “Which end?”

“…Both.”

“Let Madison doctor this end of you first,” I laughed. I stepped out of the way to let her apply the salve.

When Madison saw the damage, she cringed. “You poor thing. I was so hoping you wouldn’t have to go through this.” She dabbed the salve on the worst part and worked it into his skin gently, taking care not to hurt him further. “She really got you good this time, but I’ve seen a lot worse. Bend forward just a bit.”

Loki did so. “This is awkward,” he whimpered. “So…awkward.”

“Why?” Madison asked, amused. “You’ve never had a girl to rub your butt?” she joked.

Loki frowned, not sure how to reply to that. “Uhhh…”

Madison laughed. “You want your girlfriend to do it? She can take over if you want her to. I’m sure she won’t mind.” Madison winked at me.

I grinned.

“She’s not my…” Loki cleared his throat. “Won’t your boyfriend be jealous?”

“Nah. If it makes you feel better, I used to be a nurse before I was brought to this hellhole. I did stuff like this for a living. Seeing people’s bared tooshies isn’t new to me, trust me. I might think your butt’s cute, but don’t worry, I’m not going to start flirting with you or anything. Mel can pinch these sweet cheeks all she wants.”

“Oh.” Loki blinked. “I-I didn’t know you’re a nurse.”

“I’ve seen the front part quite a bit, too, but we won’t go there. It comes with the job.”

Loki gave her an unnerved look, making a move to cover his privates better.

I put a hand in front of my mouth to hide my smile at his reaction.

“There you go, sweetheart,” said Madison when she finished rubbing in the salve. “That should make your little tooshie feel better.” She gave the side of Loki’s butt a pat, then picked up a napkin from the tray to wipe off her hands.

Loki righted himself and pulled up his pants and zipped them.

“How’s it feel?”

Loki smiled, running his hands down his backside. “It feels a lot better. Thanks.”

“No problem.” Madison smiled back. Then she turned to me. “When you get done with the dishes, hide everything under the hay near the back of the barn. I’ll come back later to retrieve them.”

I nodded. Madison picked up the jar of salve and ran out of the barn.

We quickly ate the food Madison brought and hid the dishes where she requested. After that, we grabbed up the silver pails and prepared to milk cows.

“Here, I’ll do it,” Loki said, snatching the pail from my hands. “This goes against everything I stand for, but if it’ll mean me not getting whipped by that spawn of Surtur, I’ll do it.”

We were met with another problem. You had to sit to milk a cow.

Loki groaned when he saw the wooden stool placed beside the first cow.

“Curse that wicked woman!” he spat.

“You’ll have to do it standing up,” I said.

“You can’t milk a cow standing up.”

“Well, how about me doing it and you guiding me?” I suggested. “I don’t like cows, and I don’t like being anywhere near them, but I can learn…I guess.”

“You sure?”

I took the pail from his hands and sat down on the stool. Putting the pail under the cow’s udder, I turned to Loki. “I know what I’m gonna have to do next, but I don’t want to.”

Smiling, Loki positioned himself behind me and squatted down, resting his chin on my right shoulder and taking hold of my arms and placing my hands where they needed to be. “I’ll admit it’s not going to be pleasant. It used to disgust me when I watched the maids do it.”

I grinned, looking sidelong at him. “Oh, I dunno. I might actually enjoy this.”

“You will?”

“Well, my instructor _is_ cute…” I giggled, brushing my head against his. “Both his face _and_ his heinie…and everything else in between.” I kissed his cheek, blowing a small raspberry against it to make him chuckle. He grinned big and returned the head rub, nuzzling my face with his nose.

Times were hard for both of us, true, but as long as he was by my side, I felt like I could get through anything.

Loki walked me through milking the first cow, but it didn’t go without its hitches. Technically, this was Loki’s first time milking a cow, too. He discovered that the maids in Asgard made it look so simple and easy. They must have had some secret technique they used to be ‘one with the cow’. As soon as I put my hands around the cow’s udder, she became greatly agitated. She stepped in the pail, knocked the pail over, backed away, knocked me off the stool, bucked, came close to kicking poor Loki in the groin, and did everything she could to make our task that much harder.

Finally, Loki managed to calm the cow down enough where I could squeeze one pail of milk out of her.

I caught on pretty fast. True, it was disgusting…and smelly. Cows…yuck! Once I finished, I moved on to the next one. I felt like we were running late on everything due to the setbacks, so I tried to hurry as quickly as I could before Touconte showed up unannounced and found fault in our work.


	5. The River

Good news. Touconte never showed up. She must have been out in the fields, whipping the other slaves. Or she crawled back into the dark hole she crawled out of. Loki and I hoped it was the latter.

After we finished milking the cows, we hurried into the house with the pails of milk and gave them to the maids. By then, we were exhausted, sweaty, smelt bad, and weren’t looking forward to a hot day out in the garden, which is where we knew we needed to be to appease Touconte.

As usual, the maids gave us our instructions. They handed us a pair of garden gloves each and baskets and plastic buckets to put the vegetables in, and they showed us which field we needed to harvest from. It was a medium-sized garden across from the back door. Not too big, but big enough to keep us busy for a couple hours. It was full to the brim with tomatoes, green beans, corn, and okra.

Beyond that was a stretch of trees, separating the garden from a forested area. The place was beautiful, I’ll admit. Under any other circumstance, I wouldn’t have minded being here. Such as it was, though, it was hard to enjoy the setting when you were being forced and threatened into working for Satan’s daughter.

“I don’t want to do this,” Loki whined.

“I know. Neither do I, but we have to.”

“Milking cows was bad enough, but this…” Loki looked up at the sky. “It’s too hot…and there’s dirt out there.”

“We’re doing this so your butt won’t be hot,” I reminded him. “Which do you prefer?”

Loki snatched up one of the plastic buckets, grumbling. “I’m tired, and I smell like cows.”

“The garden dirt isn’t going to hurt you, then.”

Loki shot me a glare.

“For your information, I’m not enjoying this, either. But complaining about it isn’t going to solve anything.” I lowered my voice. “We’re in this mess for the time being. I don’t like it any more than you do, you already know that. But we need to play along until we figure a way out of it. We don’t have a choice.” I took his hand and squeezed it. “Please, Loki. I don’t want to see Touconte hurt you anymore. Just do this.”

Loki sighed, turning his gaze to me. Finally, he nodded.

Together we walked out into the field. We started at the house and worked our way to the trees. It was hot work, but we had no choice but to see it through. It was either that or see Loki get another thrashing.

“What do you bet Touconte makes us break the green beans tomorrow?” I wiped sweat off my face with the back of my hand.

“An extra dinner roll,” Loki answered flatly. “I’ll bet two that she makes us break them today.”

“You’re on.”

“This stuff itches!” Loki griped, throwing a handful of okra into his basket.

“I told you to use gloves.” I held up my hands to show him my long garden gloves.

He sighed and grabbed up his gloves. “They’re sissy gloves,” he mumbled.

“Why? Because they have flower print on them?”

“Yes… And because they’re pink.”

I giggled.

“And these stupid plants smell like cat pee!” Loki gagged.

“That’s okra for you.”

He gave me an exasperated glare.

“Would you rather me pick the okra and you do the tomatoes?”

“Yes.”

We switched places, and from that point on, neither of us said much as we worked steady, getting closer and closer to the tree line. I think both of us had the same thoughts: the sooner we got done, the sooner we could go back inside the house. And talking only slowed us down.

“Do you hear that?” Loki said suddenly. He stood up and looked toward the trees.

“Hear what?”

“It sounds like water.”

“I don’t hear anything.”

Loki pointed. “Sounds like it’s that way.”

“Loki, what are you doing? Get back here!” I watched in horror as he abandoned his work and walked toward the forest. I nervously looked around me. No one was watching, but it still felt wrong to leave our work. What if Touconte found out?

Glancing toward the house one more time, I dropped the green beans, I was holding, into the basket, pulled off my gloves, and followed after Loki—if not for anything else, but to drag him back to the garden.

“Loki!” I called out once I walked into the trees. The shade brought instant relief from the heat, which I briefly basked in. “Loki, where are you?”

“Over here!” I heard his voice come from somewhere in front of me. I ran toward it, zigzagging through the trees. I went a short distance before stumbling out into a clearing. Directly in front of me stood Loki…and a river.

He turned a grinning face at me. “It’s a river,” he stated the obvious.

“Yes, I see it’s a river. Now, come back to the garden.” I glanced over my shoulder. For some reason, I couldn’t shake the gnawing feeling we were being watched.

“This place is nice,” Loki continued, ignoring me. “It’d be fun to have a picnic here.”

I secretly agreed, but other things were pressing on my mind. Like, making sure Loki would be able to sit down to have the picnic.

“Loki, what are you doing?!” I almost shrieked. Loki took off his shirt and threw it on the ground. Next, he pulled off his shoes and socks and started pulling down his jeans.

“Don’t worry. I’ll come back to the garden. But first, I’m going to cool off. I feel dehydrated.”

He left his boxers in place and walked to the edge of the bank, wading out into the river’s clear water.

I looked over my shoulder again. “Loki, we don’t need to be doing this,” I said through clenched teeth. I ran forward and scooped up his clothes and shoes. “Touconte could show at any moment.”

Loki splashed the cool water over his face. “She hasn’t shown up during our chores yet, except for when we were scrubbing the kitchen floor. I’m highly doubtful she will now.”

“You don’t know that! If she’s overseeing the fields, she could be out here somewhere.”

“Somewhere is right.”

We froze, stiffening where we stood. I’m almost sure our faces were pale despite having been out in the sun.

My heart almost stopped.

Turning around slowly, we saw Touconte’s tall form coming into the clearing.

Loki scrambled up the bank, slipping on the mud once.

“I assume you are having a good time?” the woman’s cold voice dripped with sarcasm.

“I-I-I was just cooling off.” Loki swallowed hard. “It’s hot out in the garden.”

Touconte didn’t say a word, which was almost as scary as her appearance. Instead, her nostrils flared out, and she stepped forward.

“Oh, please, no. Not again,” Loki squeaked. “I’m still sore from this morning.”

Touconte ignored his pleas and grasped his arm and jerked him forward. She bent him over her leg so far he was almost standing on his head. She peeled down his wet boxers and struck his bared rear with her crop. A deafening shriek came out of Loki’s mouth and startled some birds from the treetops.

“OW! STOP! OUCH!” Loki cried out, kicking his feet and flailing. Touconte’s aim was on-target, never missing his underside, which her attention was focused on.

After the lashing she gave him earlier, I couldn’t even imagine how much pain his backside was in. And once again I was forced to look on, feeling helpless. Anger surged through me, and I wanted badly to grab hold of Touconte and shove her into the river.

Loki attempted covering his butt with his hands, but it was no use. Touconte continued bringing down her crop despite his efforts to shield the blows. She even hit his hands, which caused an even shriller shriek to come out.

“STOP IT!” I shouted. Enough was enough. I stepped forward. I had to intervene no matter the cost.

Touconte stopped and glared at me.

“We’re going back to the garden. You don’t have to do this,” I continued. Tears cropped my eyes. “We were just taking a break. Surely to goodness, you can understand that. Please, let him go.”

Touconte let go of Loki. She grabbed his arm and forced him to stand upright, his wet boxers twisted around his thighs. “Stand up!” she growled when Loki had trouble standing like she wanted. She smacked his butt a couple times with the crop.

“OWW!” he yelled.

“I said, stand up.” She turned him around to face me. Sniffling, Loki moved a hand in front of his crotch to hide his privates, his face growing redder from embarrassment. But Touconte didn’t care—just like she didn’t care about a lot of things. “Now, you will return to the garden and finish harvesting those vegetables, or you will not be sitting for the next week.” She looked from Loki to me. Then she smacked Loki’s bottom hard, causing him to wince and hiss.

After she was satisfied with making her point quite clear, she left…like some kind of evil mist seeping back into the trees.

I ran to Loki’s side, dropping his clothes in favor of helping him.

“Don’t!” he whimpered, pushing my hands away. “My boxers aren’t going to go back on wet.”

I took hold of them and pulled them down his legs. “Step out of them, sweetie,” I said in a whisper.

I rung the water out and laid them on the ground. Loki stood to the side, naked, wet, pained, and crying. He still held his hands in front of his crotch. His knuckles were red and skinned, blood starting to appear, from where Touconte hit his hands.

My heart sank at the sight of him. A knife speared through my chest would have hurt less.

“Here, you can’t go back to the garden like that.” I offered him his jeans. “You’ll just have to go commando. Do you think you can get into your jeans?”

Loki sniffled loud and hard, reaching a hand up to paw at his eyes. “I don’t know,” he said through his blubbering.

“Let me see your hands,” I reached for one of them. He refused to comply, keeping a tight grip on his privates. He let out a whimper. “Aw, it’s okay, baby. It’s all right.” I rubbed his arm. “It’s just us out here. And I promise I won’t look.”

Loki sniffed loudly, eventually lifting a shaky hand for me to see. I took it, running a thumb over his injured knuckles. I bent his fingers gently. “Does that hurt?”

He winced and shook his head. “Not much. J-j-just the s-s-s-skinned part.”

“I don’t think anything’s broken.” I pressed my lips to his knuckles. “It’s going to be okay. Here, put your jeans on.”

Loki knuckled his eyes, a watery whimper escaping through his lips. “Why didn’t you _do_ something?” he sobbed.

My heart sank lower, kind of taken back that he was, apparently, blaming me. But I understood how it must have looked to him.

“I _did_ do something. I got her to stop. What else did you want me to do? Make her madder and cause her to beat you more? It’s not like I have much choice whenever she does this.”

“Use the strength Mother gave you.”

“Loki, you know it only works when I have to bring you under control. That’s the way Frigga made it work, so it won’t interfere with my everyday life.” I splayed my hands and dropped them to my sides. “Right now, I’m just a normal human with normal human strength. Touconte is much too strong for me to take down. I don’t know how she is, but she is. She’s a lot stronger than she looks.” I shook my head. “Until we come up with a plan, she’s much too dangerous for either of us to tackle on our own. She’d kill us both, if not injure us in a way that we’d probably wish we were dead. And she knows it, too.” I reached out and touched his cheek, rubbing my thumb across it gently. “Believe me, I wanted more than anything to toss her in that river,” I whispered. “It rips my heart out every time I see her hurt you.”

Loki closed his eyes and let out a loud sniff. In a low voice, he said, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I whispered back. “You have every right to be upset. I’m just as upset as you are. I wish I could do more. I really do.”

“Don’t,” Loki looked at me. “I…I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Despite my feelings, I still managed to smile. I bent his head forward and placed a kiss on his forehead.

Sighing, Loki glanced down at his hand still cupping his privates. He tightened his hand over them, his cheeks turning the slightest red.

My face flushed red, too, and I turned my eyes away, offering him his jeans again.

With my help and a lot of pained yelps, Loki finally pulled on the jeans. The worst part is we couldn’t get ice or salve for the damage until that night because I was almost sure Touconte had more work lined up for us after we finished the garden.

And I was right. When we returned to the house with our baskets of vegetables, the maids assigned us more work. There was another garden, full of cucumbers, squash, and more okra and tomatoes, that needed harvesting after we broke for lunch.

“Oh, that’s awful,” Madison said after looking over Loki’s bottom and hands. We were standing inside the pantry with the doors closed, wolfing down sandwiches and glasses of water while Madison tended to Loki’s wounds. I just got through retelling everything that happened.

Madison wrapped gauze around Loki’s knuckles and grabbed her salve jar from a shelf and quickly applied a coating of it to his rear. “There. That should hold you until tonight.”

And it did hold him until that night.

That night… I was never so relieved to see the sun go down. We were tired, hot, hungry, dirty, and sunburned—a combination I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Well, except for Touconte. Oh, how I wished she could live through everything she forced us to do!

Speaking of which, like the last time, Touconte showed up right on schedule to inspect our day’s work. She looked over the vegetables and the pails of milk, seeming satisfied with the results.

After showering, Loki collapsed on his stomach across the bed.

I toweled my wet hair a few more times and tossed aside my towel, smiling. Getting up, I walked the few steps to Loki’s bed and lay down beside him.

Without speaking a word, he moved closer to me and nuzzled my face with his nose.

“My cuddle bean,” I whispered. I pulled a lock of his hair out of his face and tucked it behind his ear. “That’s what you are—my precious cuddle bean.” I combed my fingers through his wet hair curls, making them stick out in the back. He sighed and closed his eyes at feeling the comforting ministrations.

I kissed his sunburned cheek and nose.

A knock on the door caused us to look up. Madison opened the door and poked her head in.

“Am I disturbing anything?”

“Not at all,” I said. “Come in.”

When Loki saw the jar of salve in the maid’s hand, he immediately pulled down his pants in preparation for it.

“Here.” Madison offered the jar of salve to me. “I think he will enjoy you doing it more than me.” I took the jar. “I can tell you two share a special bond. This is something that should be shared between the two of you. You’ve seen me do it. All you have to do is dip a little on your fingers and work it into his skin like you would any cream. Be sure to put a little more on the worst areas. Don’t bear down too hard. His bottom is hurting from the lashing, so you don’t want to cause him anymore discomfort.”

I nodded. “Thanks.” I smiled at Loki and ruffled his hair.

“And while you’re doing that, I’ll go get your dinner and an ice pack.” In afterthought, she added, “And something to put on that sunburn.”

After Madison left, I moved into a more comfortable position, sitting cross-legged on the bed next to Loki. I inspected his bottom more closely before putting the medicine on it. I noticed it looked swollen. No wonder, after everything it had been through.

“Does it hurt when I do this?” I asked as I poked an area of Loki’s right butt cheek.

He winced and nodded. “Yes.”

“It looks bad, sweetie.” I opened the salve and scooped out some with my fingers. “Here you go, my cuddle bean,” I cooed while dabbing the salve over his swollen backside.

He jerked. “Oh, that’s cold.”

Smiling, I began working the medicine into his skin. I gently rubbed it over his whole bottom, trying not to bear down too hard. I globbed more on his underside, where it was swollen the most.

“I can’t see you sitting in the chair to eat tonight.” Anger started building inside me again. “Blast that Touconte. I’d like to use that crop on her.”

“Maybe we will someday,” Loki said hopefully. He jerked forward. “Ah!! Ow…that hurts.”

“Sorry.”

A few minutes of silence passed while I continued rubbing the salve in. Then I suddenly felt Loki’s finger pulling at the back of my pants. I stiffened and turned around.

“Loki, don’t do that,” I scolded.

He shrank back and turned innocent eyes up at me. “You’ve looked at mine plenty of times. I was just seeing if yours is cute, too.”

I had to suppress a smile. He sounded so much like a little kid. “I’m looking at yours because someone has to doctor it.” I took his hand and moved it away from me. I was careful since his hands were still wrapped in gauze and healing. “And the times I’ve looked at it before now were when you were naughty, and I had to spank you.”

He smirked, giving me a knowing look. “You might be doctoring it, but I’m sure you’re enjoying the view.”

I wrinkled my nose at him. “Stop it.”

He continued to smile, giving me a playful wink.

I scritched his bottom and ran the tip of my finger up the small of his back, and he jerked, squirmed, and giggled.

“Maybe I am.” I smirked back. “How can I not? It’s sooo precious.”

Loki’s smirk turned into a full grin as he laid his head on his folded arms. I held his gaze a few more seconds before finishing up applying the salve.

“But I’m serious, Loki,” I continued. “Don’t ever attempt peeking down a woman’s pants unless you want to be slapped in the face. You can see if someone has a cute rear from the outside.”

“Sorry.”

I ruffled his hair. “I forgive you.”

“Here you go,” Madison’s voice called out as she came into the room, swinging a tray around to place on the table. “And here’s an ice pack.”

“That’s just what he needs.” I took it and immediately placed it on Loki’s butt. He jerked forward at feeling the cold. “You’re a nurse. Could you take a look at this and see what you think? It looks swollen.”

Madison moved closer to inspect. “You’re right. It’s swollen.”

Loki uttered a whimper.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Madison comforted. “It’s nothing new. But you definitely need to watch that Touconte doesn’t do any more damage until you heal. And keep that ice pack on it.”

“How is that possible?” I snorted. “If I sneeze, she’ll whip him.”

“She’s whipped me for the past two mornings,” Loki said sullenly.

“We can’t get up on time,” I explained. “It would help if we had a clock other than broken Bessie over there on the mantel.”

“Yeah, Touconte isn’t big on clocks. She expects everyone to be on time, but she keeps them out of the rooms on purpose.”

“Let me guess… So she can have an excuse to whip?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head.

“If you want, I can come in at five and wake you up. I’ll be out of the way before Touconte gets in here.”

“Thank you. That would be great.”

“Got fried chicken tonight,” Madison announced, changing the subject. She threw a loving look at Loki. “And a cupcake for someone special.” She handed me a tube of lotion. “Here’s some aloe cream for your sunburn.” She placed a box of playing cards in my hand along with it. “And something to help keep you entertained. Be sure to hide them from view, though. I’ll pick up the dishes later, as usual.”

The door clicked shut, leaving me and Loki to ourselves.

“Ready to eat, buddy?” I poked Loki’s side and ran a hand over his head.

“Yeah, but I can’t sit in the chair.”

“We can eat in the floor. Think you can lie on your stomach there?”

Loki nodded.

Between his swollen bottom and his sunburnt face, he was in a lot of pain. I hated for him to get up. But I felt it was better for us to eat on the floor than to get crumbs in the beds. Goodness knows how Touconte would react to that.

I helped Loki off the bed and onto the floor, putting the ice pack back in place on his rear. I took the tray off the table and set it between us and began serving the food.

“You owe me two rolls,” I said playfully. “Touconte didn’t make us crack the beans today.”

A smile spread over Loki’s face.

With dinner out of the way, we got ready for bed. I put more salve on Loki’s rear, and we slathered ourselves down with the aloe cream to help our sunburned skin. Afterward, I made sure to put the creams and the deck of cards in the drawer of the night table, out of sight. I also made double sure that our clothes were tucked away in the dresser, and the room was in order.

As usual, I sat down next to Loki on his bed to be with him until he fell asleep.

He snuggled close to me, putting a thumb in his mouth. I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and ran my hand over his hair, placing a light kiss on his forehead.

We had only been in this awful place a few days, and already it felt like it had been an eternity. I wasn’t sure how much longer we’d last.

I leaned my head against Loki’s and started to hum “Dreams to Dream” softly. It was a song I discovered Loki enjoyed hearing late at night—a song that relaxed him and lulled him into sleep. I felt him relax next to me, his head falling closer to mine. I sang a few of the words, and he cuddled closer.

In that small moment, everything felt right. The ugliness around us seemed to just…melt away, and it felt like we were back home. For the briefest second, I felt safe, and I could tell Loki felt it, too.

“…I’ll follow my dreams until they cooome truuuue,” I continued to sing softly in Loki’s ear. I pulled the blanket up around him, embracing him tighter.

A soft sigh escaped him, and he made a sucking noise as he twisted his thumb in his mouth.

“Sweet dreams, my precious cuddle bean,” I whispered.

I looked up to see Madison standing in the doorway. She was smiling. She pointed at the table, and I nodded.

“Madison,” I called as quietly as I could. She walked to the bed.

“Yes?”

“Do you have any stuffed animals lying around, by chance?”

She pointed at Loki, mouthing a silent, “For him?”

I nodded.

Her smile returned. “I’ll see what I can do.” She grabbed up the dishes and our dirty clothes and left.

I planted a kiss on Loki’s head.


	6. Spilled Beans

I cracked open my eyes. At first, I wasn’t sure what woke me. Maybe nothing, I dunno. The room was still dark, so I couldn’t have been asleep for very long.

Then I heard the rumbling of thunder.

“Uh oh,” I mumbled. I heard Loki shift restlessly under his covers.

Even though I told him countless times that it wasn’t going to hurt him, Loki was still afraid of thunder. Sometimes he was open about it, other times he tried to suppress it, but I could always tell. I thought it was because of the connection with Thor, but that couldn’t be it. I knew Loki wasn’t _that_ afraid of his brother. No. It was something else. But I didn’t pry.

I turned over and flipped on the lamp and looked in his direction. There was a large lump in the middle of the bed, where he was curled up under the covers.

“Loki,” I called gently. “Sweetheart…”

Loki poked his head out from under the blanket, his hair all askew. I cupped my hand under his chin and pressed my lips to his head.

“It’s thundering,” he murmured sleepily.

“I know.” I motioned for him to scoot over. He did, and I sat down and pulled him into my arms.

A louder burst of thunder vibrated the house. Loki tightened his arms around me and buried his face in my nightshirt.

I leaned my head against his and began combing my fingers through his hair. “I wonder if Touconte will make us work in the rain.”

He opened his eyes. “I hope not.”

“She seems like the type who wouldn’t care.”

“I don’t want to work outside when it’s lightning and thundering.”

I hugged him, rubbing my hand up and down his arm.

We sat like that for the next few hours—light on, snuggled under the blanket, listening to the storm rage outside. It was cozy, except for the part about Loki being afraid. Every time it thundered, he jumped, and I would have to wrap my arms tighter around him. Poor thing.

The rain poured, streaking down the window in large waterfalls. In the silent and still atmosphere of the house, the sound was amplified, deafening.

I wondered where the maids and Touconte were. The house was too quiet to me, knowing what went on inside it. I hadn’t ventured out of our room at night before, but something inside me suddenly wanted to, just to see where everyone was—what went on at nights…in the dark. Would it be possible for us to slip out some night and make a run for it?

Lightning flickered and there was a crackling boom. Loki moved closer to me, almost pushing me off the bed.

I wish it was possible to hold someone tighter because I would have. I intertwined my legs with his and pulled the blanket tighter around him, whispering soothing words in his ear.

At some point, I dozed off in that position. That was the last I remember until five o’clock rolled around. By then, the worst of the storm had passed, leaving behind a steady downpour of rain. And true to her word, Madison knocked lightly on the door before stepping inside. She came ten minutes early, but that was okay. At least I knew she was willing to do this for us. I already felt like I owed her a whole lot.

“I see you’re already up,” she whispered, approaching the bed.

“I was dozing,” I said, my words breaking off into a yawn. “But, yeah, he doesn’t like storms.”

Both of us lowered our eyes to Loki, who was asleep with his head resting across my lap, mouth partly hanging open. Madison reached out and ran her hand over his hair.

“I brought your clean clothes.” She held out the armload for me to see. “I’ll just put them over here in the dresser.” When her task was done, she approached the bed again. “I also found this.”

I opened my eyes and saw a floppy blue elephant inches from my face. I chuckled, taking it from the maid’s hands.

“Thank you.”

“Be sure to hide it in the dresser when he isn’t using it. Don’t let her see it.”

“She’s against that, too?”

“Oh, yes.” Madison picked at her fingernail nervously. “Or rather, I just don’t want her finding out how vulnerable Loki is.” She began making my bed as she spoke. “If she ever finds out he sucks his thumb and sleeps with a stuffed toy, she could give him a harder time. She’s sick enough to do that.”

“I’ll be glad when we get out of here.” I put the elephant next to Loki.

“I used to have that kind of hope,” Madison said sadly. She sighed. “You’d better get up. It’s getting close to five.”

“You’re right.” I pushed away from the headboard. I rubbed and patted Loki’s back. “Hey, Loki, time to get up.” He moaned and stretched. “Come on, baby, we need to be on time today so your sweet heinie can heal.”

Loki yawned. He ran a hand through his hair, mussing it. “My bottom aches…” he whined.

I pushed him up to a sitting position. He flinched when his bottom touched the mattress. “Ow! It hurrrrts…” He sniffled, looking like he might cry.

I patted his cheek, brushing back some of his hair. “I know it does, sweetheart. I need to put salve on it before we start the day.”

“Where’s the jar?” Madison asked. I pointed at the night table.

“Come on, Loki, wake up,” I kept a hand on his back to keep him steady.

Madison handed the salve jar to me, then she grabbed up the toy elephant and put it in one of the dresser drawers. Loki lay back down on his stomach, his eyes closing again. I pulled down his pants.

“Poor baby,” I said softly when I saw his bottom. Scooping out a glob of the salve, I quickly smeared it across his cheeks.

“Ah!” Loki jolted awake.

“I thought the cold would wake you up.” I couldn’t help smiling.

“I’ll meet you two downstairs,” Madison said with a laugh.

“Would you mind bringing an ice pack up here? I might need it to put down his shirt.”

“I’m awake!” Loki growled.

 

The rain ended up lasting all day. Loki and I hoped we would get out of doing work, but we should have known better. Touconte was not one to let anyone off that easy.

When we stumbled into the kitchen, Madison was ready with our breakfast and our day’s chores.

“No cows?” I said.

“No, not today,” Madison said, laying out our food. “That job went to one of the maids. Touconte enjoys rotating jobs around to everyone.”

Loki let out a relieved sigh. “Thank heaven. Although, I’m afraid to ask what she wants us to do this time.”

Madison pulled out a slip of paper. “Well, first, she wants you to go out on the front porch and crack the green beans you picked yesterday.”

Loki and I exchanged looks.

“Doesn’t sound too bad,” I said, forking scrambled eggs into my mouth. “At least she didn’t make us go outside in the rain.”

“Don’t speak too soon,” Madison mumbled. “She’s made others work in the rain before.”

“I just don’t want to milk cows again,” said Loki. “Or pick okra.”

I dumped my bacon on his plate and pinched the tip of his nose playfully.

“I thought you liked bacon,” he said.

“I do.” I smiled. “But I want you to have it.”

Loki smiled back.

Much to our surprise (and horror), Touconte herself was waiting for us on the front porch after we finished eating. Something about seeing her when I stepped through the door caused me to misstep. I almost stumbled over the threshold. Thankfully, I caught myself on the screen door and covered up the fact I almost fell forward on my face. I didn’t want to make eye contact with her. For all I knew, she probably had some power that could turn people to stone like Medusa. But I forced myself to look at her face...to be polite.

And I wish I hadn’t.

Her face was even more wrinkly and horrible than it looked inside the house. It took every fiber of my being to hold back cringing.

I could feel Loki hesitate in the doorway behind me. I glanced back and saw him eyeing Touconte warily with fearful eyes. By now, the old woman meant only one thing to Loki: that pain wasn’t far away.

There were at least seven or eight buckets of green beans setting around the porch. I didn’t know we even picked that many. More buckets were pushed against the side of the house. These were empty. Meant for the green beans we snap, I assumed.

As soon as we stepped onto the porch, she handed Loki one of the buckets. “I want both of you to break and shell these before dinner.” She pointed at the other buckets. “And those as well.”

Loki reluctantly took the bucket, looking at the beans in disgust.

“And if you do not get them done...” Touconte brought her crop down on Loki’s butt, making the trickster holler and almost drop the bucket. “You know what will happen.”

For whatever reason, Touconte was about to whip Loki again, but I stepped in.

I had to. I knew I wouldn’t win, but I had to at least try.

I was tired of the way she was treating him.

I caught the crop before it could make contact with the seat of his pants, but she shoved me away. I lost my balance and fell, crashing into the buckets of green beans and scattering them all over the front porch. I hurt my elbow while trying to break my fall—skinned it. Loki dropped his bucket and knelt to help me. When I pulled myself together, I looked at the woman.

She nodded in satisfaction. “Serves you right,” she said coldly.

I’m not sure what got in me. Whether it was her whipping Loki, the way she spoke down to me, or a mixture of both.

Before I knew what I was doing, I lunged forward and grabbed for her crop again and tried to wrestle it out of her hand.

But she was too much for me. She shoved me forward again, and, like a human bowling ball, I knocked down what buckets were still standing, nearly rolling off the porch.

Next thing I knew, a line of fire burned across my face, knocking off my glasses and making me gasp. It took me a full moment to realize Touconte struck me with her crop. I raised a hand to feel the stinging stripe on my cheek, wincing.

“Loki, no!” I cried out. It was too late.

Coming to my defense, Loki sprang toward her and attempted wrestling the crop from her. But she grabbed Loki by his arm and swung him around and gave his backside about ten hard swats. He cried out and fought to get out of her hold, kicking and hitting her with his fists. His struggles only made her beat his bottom that much harder. When she thought he’d had enough, she let him go. “ _That_ is for spilling the buckets _and_ for attempting to seize my crop,” she announced. “Be sure to pick up those beans.”

Loki held his bottom and glared daggers at her, keeping his eyes on her until she disappeared inside the house.

“Owwwwwww!” Loki moaned out, rubbing his bottom. He forced himself to walk forward and help me up. He picked up my glasses and handed them to me, hissing when he bent over.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” I gently scolded.

“But, she struck you.”

I felt of my sore cheek and the raised welt there, flinching. “I know, but…” Madison’s words suddenly hit me, and I understood even more what she meant. I looked up at him. “But seeing you get spanked for no reason hurts worse.” I felt of my skinned elbow. It was bleeding, but I would survive.

Loki gave me a sweet smile. He lifted a finger to feel of the line on my cheek. He whispered, “She almost got your eye.”

I brushed his hand away. I walked around to the porch chairs, gathering up several of the seat cushions and placed them in the chair nearest to Loki. “Here, baby,” I said softly.

“I don’t want to sit,” he sniveled. “I’ll help you pick up the beans.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded and gave a loud sniff. “I don’t feel like sitting.”

I began righting the buckets, scooping up handfuls of green beans as I did so.

Loki walked down the steps and set to work picking up the beans that went over the side of the porch.

“Loki, come up here out of the rain. I’ll get the ones down there,” I said. The last thing I needed was for him to catch a cold or something. Sniffling, he returned to the porch. “Here, you finish scooping up these, and I’ll go down and pick up the ones on the ground.”

“Okay,” he said, wiping his nose and eyes with the back of his hand.

When all beans were back in their buckets, we gathered to one side of the porch and prepared to snap them. Loki had a hard time sitting at first, even with several pillows. I felt so sorry for him.

“How does that feel?” I asked, after putting another pillow in his chair. He tucked his hands under him and moved in his seat to find a comfortable position. He winced once.

Finally, he exhaled and nodded. “Better.”

I patted his back and sat down in my chair, placing an old newspaper on my lap.

“Do you know how to snap them?” I asked Loki. He shook his head. “Here, let me show you.” I took a handful of beans and put them in my lap. It had been a while since I last snapped beans, so I hoped I could remember.

Step by step, I walked Loki through the process, and he caught on after the first time. I could tell he wasn’t thrilled with the job, especially knowing how many buckets we had to do. Neither was I. But at least it was better than being out in a hot garden.

The rain continued to pour steadily. Occasionally, a cool breeze blew through the porch, bringing with it tiny sprinkles of rain that felt like cold snowflakes on our skin—refreshing after the hot day we spent in the garden the day before. It was really nice and relaxing. As long as I blocked out Touconte from my mind, I could easily imagine us spending a lazy afternoon out in the country, maybe at someone’s grandma’s house. I wished that was the reason why we were here.

“We’ve got to get out of this place,” I whispered, snapping another bean. I caught myself glancing around to make sure we were alone.

“I’m open for suggestions,” Loki replied. He threw the beans he just snapped in one of the empty buckets. “Have anything in mind?”

“We need a map first.”

“At this point, I’m ready to get out of here without a map.”

I shook my head. “It’s too risky. We need a map so we can pick out a safe location to run to. We can’t escape without having a destination. Otherwise, we risk getting caught by Touconte again. Neither of us knows the layout of this area. We could spend days out there without food or water.” I threw some beans into the bucket. “We find a map first. Then we can start putting together an escape plan.”

Loki nodded. “Agreed. And we can’t forget to include Madison and the maids and Harold.”

“Don’t worry, we won’t.” I threw more beans in the bucket. “We’re going to get out of this place, and we’ll take everyone with us.”

“Everyone except Touconte and her thugs,” Loki corrected.

“That’s what I mean. The police can have them.”

“Not if I get them first…”

“Loki, don’t do anything you’ll regret.”

“Believe me, I won’t regret doing what I’d like to do to her…”

“Loki…”

“If only I had my magic. I’d show her. I’d turn her into a roach and step on her.”

“That’s too good for her.”

“You’re right. It is.” Loki cracked a few more beans, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. “So you have any ideas where we can get a map? We’ve looked in most of the rooms and haven’t found anything yet.”

“If there _is_ a map around this place, I’m thinking it’s in Touconte’s office. That would be the logical place. There’s got to be something somewhere showing the layout of the fields. Hopefully, it’ll show other buildings in this area, too.”

“Great. So how do we get in there?”

“Good question.” I looked up, staring at the rain coming off the porch roof. “Touconte’s thugs stand guard at the front door. They’ll see us if we try breaking in.”

“We need a diversion.” Loki smiled mischievously.

I gave him a sidelong glance. “Loki, you don’t have your magic.”

“So? I’ve still got my mind.”

I smiled, reaching across to ruffle his hair. “That you do.”

“I just need the right time.”

“We’ll have to keep our eyes open.” I grabbed up another handful of beans. “Just be careful that Touconte doesn’t catch on.”

“Believe me, I will.”

“Maybe we won’t need a diversion. Maybe we can sneak in there at night,” I suggested.

Loki looked at me. He nodded slowly. “Maybe. But we don’t know what goes on here at nights.”

I lowered my voice. “We can find out tonight. I’m thinking about venturing out and snooping around. Care to join me?”

“Sure, as long as we don’t get caught.”

“If we play our cards right, we won’t. Besides, Touconte said we’re free to go anywhere. We could pretend to go to the bathroom, then sneak off from there. For all anyone knows, we could be going to the kitchen for a glass of water or something.”

Loki grinned. “Have I ever told you that I love the way you think?”

I shot him a sly smirk. I reached over and booped his nose with a green bean.


	7. A Sooty Problem

Snapping the green beans took up just about all day. It went faster than we thought, but it still lasted long enough.

After we snapped the last bunch, our fingers were so sore I felt like mine were literally going to fall off.

We hoped that was all the work we had to do, but, again, we should have known better. Madison informed us our last chore for the day was cleaning the parlor slash library, making sure to clean the fireplace.

Wonderful.

How do you clean a fireplace?

Lucy wheeled out a small, cylindrical vacuum cleaner with a long hose attached.

Oh, that’s how.

Once we had our supplies and Madison gave me a bandage for my elbow, we opened the doors to the parlor slash library, which was located beside Touconte’s office. The doors groaned on their hinges like they hadn’t been opened in several years. Stale, dusty air hit us in the face.

Looking behind us, we could see Touconte’s thugs standing by the front door, which meant we had to be careful what we discussed. Didn’t want them overhearing.

Loki closed the parlor doors gently and flipped on the ceiling light.

“Wow…” I breathed, taking in the room.

Like the rest of the house, it was decorated in old Victorian. The sofa and chairs in the center of the room were dark green with a floral pattern and had dark wood legs and trim. They were genuine antiques from the look of it. A matching coffee table stood in the middle.

Around the walls were shelves and shelves of books, knickknacks randomly placed in the midst. There were a few framed pictures, a bust of Beethoven, a couple old vases, and a china figurine of some hunting dogs.

The fireplace also looked Victorian, having a luxuriously carved white marble surround, mantel, and hearth. On the wall over the mantel hung a huge framed painting of…some woman dressed in an informal lacy white dress. I had no idea who it was—late owner of the house, I guess? I expected it to be Touconte. She seemed like the type who would keep a portrait of herself somewhere in the house for everyone to constantly see when she wasn’t around.

There was something else about the room, I noticed. A certain feeling I had just standing in it—something I hadn’t felt in any other part of the house. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something about the atmosphere was gloomy, stifling—almost creepy. As beautiful as it was, it carried with it an obvious sinister air. A sudden wave of fear washed over me, and I had the unmistakable urge to bolt out and hide somewhere.

It was rare I got that feeling. _Very_ rare.

I shuddered and turned away from the fireplace. My eyes roamed quickly over the bookshelves, somewhat expecting to see some hideous ghoul poking its head out there. I moved around to walk between the coffee table and sofa.

It was here that I caught sight of something on the floor. I paused and lowered my eyes. There was a large stain on the rug near the front of the sofa—reddish in color. My eyes widened, and I backed away, almost coming close to sitting down on the sofa’s seat.

Afterward, I felt kinda silly. The stain could have been anything—coffee, tea, wine, ink, paint. It was a parlor, after all, and some teas and wines are reddish. But I couldn’t take my eyes off it. And the longer I stared, the more uneasy I became.

I swallowed. The room’s atmosphere felt darker all of a sudden.

A clumsy, loud clink met my ears and made me jump and turn around. Loki cringed and quickly sat down the little ceramic box he had been investigating.

“I felt my butt reflexively clench,” he said. He placed a hand behind him to rub his bottom. “Ow…”

I have to say I was relieved. I don’t know why, but I was.

“Be careful. Don’t break anything.”

Loki took a big step away from the table. “Do you think we’re allowed to read some of these books?” he asked.

“I dunno.” I walked over and drew back the velvety wine curtains, letting in what little daylight was left. I took a moment to rifle through a pile of papers lying on the table in front of the window. I swept my feather duster around them as I did so, just so my actions wouldn’t look suspicious in case someone decided to drop in on us. Most of the papers were nothing of grave importance—some random sheets of music, a receipt for farming supplies, a few pieces of unopened junk mail, and a couple of discarded grocery lists. Weird.

I pulled out the table’s drawer to glimpse inside—nothing but some pens, a few paperclips, and a notepad. Closing it, I moved on, dusting everything as I searched around for some clue as to where we were.

I came back to the pieces of junk mail, taking note of the address. We were still in the same state, but the address wasn’t familiar to me. At least I was closer than I was a second ago. I opened the drawer again, pulled off a piece of notepad paper, and picked up a pen. I quickly jotted down the address and tucked it away in the pocket of my jeans, replacing the pen in the drawer.

“What about this one?” said Loki, pulling a book from one of the shelves.

“You’re supposed to be dusting.”

“I _am_ dusting.”

“God of Lies,” I said in a singsong voice.

He quickly ran his duster over some of the books before tucking it under his arm. “There.” He stuck out his tongue.

Smirking at his actions, I walked over to stand beside him. I glanced at the book’s title. It was a collection of Grimm’s fairy tales.

“You’ve never read Grimm’s fairy tales?”

Loki shook his head.

“Keep it out, and we’ll ask if we can borrow it. I feel like we’re in one of those kinds of fairy tales currently, so it fits.”

Loki flipped through the book.

“Hey, Loki,” I continued. I looked around us. “Do you…feel anything weird?”

“Like what?”

I shrugged. “I dunno. I just have a weird feeling being in here. The place is starting to give me the creeps.”

Loki closed the book and looked around, too. He shrugged again. “Now that you mention it, it does feel a bit…oppressive.”

“Look here.” I walked over to the sofa and pointed at the stain. “What do you suppose this is? I know what it looks like, but…I want to think it’s something else.”

Loki joined me, peering down at the rug. His brow furrowed. Without saying a word, he took another look around the room, his eyes eventually settling on the painting of the woman over the mantel. From there, his eyes moved to me. We held each other’s gaze a few seconds, knowing what the other was thinking. I tried pushing the awful thoughts out of my mind, but they kept coming back.

“I think we need to tread carefully,” Loki whispered.

“I think you’re right,” I whispered back. “Do you really think…”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Loki lowered his eyes to the stain. “But…who was it and why?”

“The original owner of the house?”

“Could be…”

I shuddered. “But why would Touconte murder her or him—or them?”

Loki glanced at me then back to the stain.

I no longer had a desire to be in the room.

We went back to work, dusting and vacuuming and polishing furniture as fast as we could so we could get out of there. And also so we would have more time to spend together before going to bed…and snooping. It was getting close to seven o’clock. Only an hour left until it was officially quitting time and Touconte would be coming in to inspect our work.

We saved the fireplace for last.

Both of us stood before it, taking a minute to rest and dread it due to being sore and exhausted.

Loki shifted on his feet, tugging at the seat of his jeans. I gave him a tired smile and reached to rub his bottom.

“You doing okay, buddy?” I asked.

He shrugged and nodded. “As well as can be expected, I guess.”

“Want me to massage your back tonight?”

Loki smiled and eagerly nodded. In afterthought, he added, “If…you feel like it.”

I patted his back. “I think I can manage it. I’m tired, but not so tired that I can’t pamper my cuddle bean.”

Loki gave me a shy smile.

We turned back to the fireplace.

“Might as well get this over with,” Loki sighed.

“You move the grate out, and I’ll suck up the ash.”

The task was so simple that I thought nothing could possibly go wrong.

Loki put on a pair of leather gloves and scooted the iron grate out onto the hearth, enough for me to get down on hands and knees and use the vacuum hose to pick up the ashes underneath.

“Okay, that’s it. Shut it off!” I shouted when I was done.

There was a long pause as the vacuum kept running. I sat up and looked in Loki’s direction to see what the problem was. He was in the process of fingering the switch.

“Turn it off, Loki!” I shouted again.

“I can’t! It’s stuck!” Loki jiggled the switch, but the vacuum wouldn’t shut off. Finally, he hauled off and kicked it. For whatever reason, the vacuum jolted and went in reverse. I wasn’t sure if reverse was even an option, but it was now. Black-gray soot started spewing out the hose like a smokestack on an old-fashioned train.

I gave out a cry of alarm, not exactly sure what was happening at first. Then I quickly pointed the vacuum hose at the inside of the firebox. A cloud of dark dust started building up inside it, making me choke and gag.

Finally, I heard Loki apply another kick, and the vacuum shut down. Such a welcomed sound!

“Oooooh!” I groaned. I sneezed. I heard Loki cough and then sneeze three times in a row.

“Blasted Midgard machine!” he blurted out.

“Whatever happened to ‘pressing it gently’?” I said sarcastically.

“The thing wouldn’t shut off!”

We wiped black powder from our faces, spitting out what got in our mouths. Yuck! Gross.

It took a little while for the dust to completely settle. When it did, we appraised the damage. It wasn’t too bad…but we would have to work like mad to get everything cleaned up again before Touconte came. And we wasted no time.

I got to work sucking up the ash again, while Loki busied himself with wiping down the mantel, walls, pictures, books, and whatever else the soot covered. Thankfully, the vacuum didn’t stick this time when I shut it off. When we finished these tasks, both of us got down on hands and knees and scrubbed down the inside of the firebox.

We emerged sometime later, around forty-six minutes after seven, black, dusty, and sweaty. But everything was now almost spotless, so that’s all that mattered. We spent the last bit of time vacuuming the carpet again.

At eight o’clock, the parlor doors opened and in walked Touconte. I could have sworn I saw the Beethoven bust attempt to hide behind the books.

We were in the middle of gathering our cleaning supplies when she walked in. We looked up, setting aside what we had in our hands and standing at attention.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust when she saw our appearance. What did she expect? If you tell someone to clean a fireplace, they aren’t going to come out of it looking like Mr. Clean.

Loki’s eyes locked onto the crop. He swallowed, shifting from one foot to the other. I could tell he was trying not to whimper. He put his hands behind him and backed away, trying to keep his distance. It was then that I caught myself glancing around the room to make sure we hadn’t forgotten anything. Up until now, we’d done well about having everything to her liking. But something inside me kept thinking we were going to mess up one day.

Little did I know that tonight was that day.

Touconte stopped in the middle of the room. She bent over and swiped the coffee table with her finger. She nodded approvingly. She walked forward a few more steps, her eyes studying the bookshelves.

After about ten minutes of inspection, Touconte silently strode toward us.

“Hey! What…?? OW!”

Without a word, she grabbed Loki and brought her crop down on his bottom three times.

“What was that for?” I looked from her to Loki, my mouth hanging open.

“This room could be cleaner,” she said simply.

“Cleaner?” I nearly squeaked.

“We spent a long time cleaning it,” Loki said, sniffling. Touconte smacked his rear with her crop. “OW!!” Loki moved to stand behind me.

“The stain on the rug,”—she pointed at it with her crop—“it is still there.”

My mouth dropped open. “We didn’t know you wanted us to get it out.”

“It is part of cleaning the room, is it not?”

Technically, it wasn’t since it was a set-in stain that was just…there, but I wasn’t going to argue the point. Instead, I asked, “What kind of stain is it?”

“Wine,” Touconte answered quickly, her eyes narrowing like the question annoyed her.

Loki and I knew she was lying.

“B-b-but…how are we supposed to get it out?”

She straightened. “That is for _you_ to figure out. You will work on it tomorrow.”

I opened my mouth to say more but thought better of it. I glanced at Loki, who clearly looked uncomfortable and miserable.

“Yes, ma’am,” I mumbled.

“Good. You are free to go.”

We gathered our supplies and quickly left the room, more than happy to be out of the place. I wasn’t thrilled about us having to clean that horrid stain the next day, though. Yuck.

After a hot shower and dinner, Loki took off his shirt and collapsed on the bed in preparation for the promised massage. And I was more than happy to lavish it on him.

He hissed and rubbed his bottom vigorously. “I’d love to take that crop to her. Just once, I’d like to get my hands on her.”

I sat down on the bed beside him. “That image in my mind is quite amusing.” I pulled his pants down enough to slip an ice pack on his bottom, then pulled them back in place. He stiffened in response to the cold then relaxed.

I began running my hands up Loki’s back, massaging around his shoulders and neck. I squeezed them to loosen his muscles, which felt overly tight.

“Relax,” I instructed.

He sighed contentedly, letting himself hang loose. “Do you think I’ll get a chance?”

“To use the crop on Touconte? I hope so.” I squirted out some of the aloe cream Madison gave us for our sunburn, smeared it on the palms of my hands, and went to work rubbing down Loki’s back with it as I massaged. “She deserves everything she’s done to you.”

“Mel,” said Loki, not bothering to open his eyes.

“Hm?”

“I’ve been thinking about something.”

“What?”

“What do you think Touconte wants me for? She seemed excited that she now has me. What do you think it is she wants me for?”

I remained quiet, thinking and slowly running my hands down his back to his butt. Then I repeated the action, starting at his shoulders.

“I don’t know,” I finally admitted. “I just keep thinking about that awful stain in the parlor.”

Loki cracked open an eye and nodded.

When I finished the massage, I grabbed up the jar of salve and pulled down Loki’s pants. I took the ice pack and set it aside. Then I massaged a thin coat of salve into the whole of his bottom, applying more to the underside since the damage was still pretty severe in that area. I gave his bottom a gentle pat when I finished.

“Nnnhh, don’t stop,” Loki said sleepily.

I gave his bottom another playful pat and ruffled his hair. “You’d keep me here all night if you could.” I pulled his pants up. He moved closer, snuggling around me. I bent over and kissed his cheek.

“Oh!” I jumped off the bed and ran to the dresser. I pulled open a drawer. “Look what Madison found for you.” I took out the plush elephant, holding it up for him to see. “It’s not Vidar, but at least it’ll provide you with something to hold onto.”

I approached the bed and dropped the elephant beside Loki. He reached out and picked it up, looking it over and holding it up to let its head flop to one side. He gave a small smile and wrapped his arm around it, tucking it next to his chest.

I picked up my nasty jeans from the floor, took out the slip of paper with Touconte’s address and put it in the night table drawer, under the deck of cards. I tossed the jeans in the dirty laundry basket.

“When are we going to go snoop?” Loki asked, his eyes drooping.

“In a while,” I answered, sitting back on the bed. “We need to wait until we know the whole house is asleep.” I reached over and took out the deck of cards from the night table. “Care to play a game while we wait?”

“Sure,” said Loki. While I shuffled the cards, he moved into a more comfortable position, hugging the stuffed elephant close to him.


	8. Chasing Ghosts

It was a few minutes past eleven when we pulled open the door and stuck our heads out into the hallway.

The place was totally pitch black except for a soft yellow glow from the foyer downstairs. At first, I thought someone was still awake, so I stopped and listened. Everything was quiet and still. No sound anywhere.

Loki mouthed something to me, and I motioned for him to keep quiet. I repositioned the small flashlight in my hand, which I found in the night table, and turned it on.

I emerged first, walking a small piece down the hall to the bathroom door. I went inside, stayed a few minutes, and then opened the door. I flushed the toilet and ran water in the sink just to make it sound genuine. Instead of going back to our room, however, I padded silently to the top of the stairs and waited.

Loki came out of the bedroom and went through the same routine. While I waited for him, I inched past the stairs and down the other side of the hall. I stared ahead through the darkness and listened. There still wasn’t a sound anywhere—no snoring, no breathing, no movement, no nothing. It was then that I wondered if we were the only ones staying on this floor. I stopped outside the room where we first met the maids. The door was cracked open, but there was no one inside.

I turned around when Loki walked to the top of the stairs. He was twisting his hand in the bottom part of his nightshirt. I walked softly to stand beside him.

“Well?” He breathed out barely above a whisper.

I shook my head. “The maids must sleep in the servants’ quarters. It would make sense.”

“What about Touconte?”

“I don’t know.” I glanced behind me. “If she IS sleeping up here, I don’t know which room.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about sleeping on the same floor with her,” Loki said, looking past me.

“We don’t know she’s up here.”

“Yeah, but if she is…” Loki chewed at his lower lip.

I gave him a small smile and reached out to squeeze his arm.

We lingered there a few more minutes, listening. Then we descended down the stairs slowly. I tiptoed down each step, stopping at the bottom. 

I took note of how different the place looked at night. The foyer was lit by a small nightlight plugged in under the side table on my left. Not exactly what I expected to see. I was hoping the place would be dark enough where we could sneak around without being noticed.

I looked toward the front door. Touconte’s thugs weren’t there. Naturally, they were asleep somewhere.

You’re probably thinking right now, why don’t we just make a run for it?

Yeah, easier said than done…

My eyes rested on the keypad on the wall by the door. A tiny red light blinked, letting me know the alarm system was fully operational.

My mouth worked. I wished I knew what the password was to deactivate the alarm.

Loki padded down the stairs and stopped behind me.

“Sshh,” I shushed. He took in everything, too.

“She’s got an alarm on the doors and windows,” he whispered, noticing the same thing I did.

“Yeah…” I muttered. “So much for making a break for it at night.”

I walked toward Touconte’s office and stretched out my hand to grab the doorknob. I knew it was probably locked, but I thought I’d try anyway.

Just as my hand was inches from touching the knob, Loki was suddenly at my side. He grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand away.

“Don’t!” he breathed out. I turned a questioning look at him. “If she’s got everything else rigged with an alarm, she might have something on her office door.”

He actually had a good point.

My eyebrows rose at that thought, and I stepped away.

We stood there and studied the area around the door.

“I don’t see anything that gives hint there’s an alarm,” I said finally.

“It could be on the inside,” Loki pointed out.

“So what do you suggest?”

“We wait and let me create a diversion during the day.”

“It’s risky.”

“Not as risky as trying to get inside now and tripping a hidden alarm.” Loki rubbed his bottom. “I don’t want another spanking tonight.”

I smiled sweetly at him and moved to wrap an arm around him. I gazed around the foyer.

“So what do we do?”

Loki moved out of my embrace and walked toward the parlor/library. “I’m going in here to get that book I wanted to read. I left it on the coffee table.”

I felt my heart skip a beat. I softly sprinted the short distance and came up beside him so he could hear my whispers.

“What?! Are you serious? You’re going in that creepy room now?—in the dark?”

Loki glanced at me, then pushed open the door. Once again, the hinges protested…loudly. The sound echoed through the foyer. Both of us gritted our teeth and held our breath.

“Loki!” I hissed angrily.

“I’m just going to slip in and grab the book off the table. What’s so bad about that?”

“You’re gonna get your butt busted anyway if you aren’t careful. We’re supposed to be doing this quietly.”

Ignoring me, Loki walked into the parlor. As much as I hated to, I followed, pushing the flashlight into his hand.

Pale moonlight filtered in through the window, basking the room in a cold, eerie glow. It made everything look surreal, like something out of a murder mystery. And knowing the stain on the rug, I was almost sure that’s what it truly was…

Maybe it was just me or maybe it was the light of the moon, but the room suddenly felt like it took on a life of its own around us. The white dress of the woman in the painting stood out like it had a phosphorescent glow. The Beethoven bust appeared to follow us with its solid white scowling eyes as if we were trespassing on sacred grounds.

If I thought the room felt weird before, it felt really weird now. I didn’t know how to explain it, but there was something there with us. An icy chill ran down my spine, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

“Hurry,” I urged Loki. “This place is seriously giving me the creeps.”

“It’s not here,” he whispered. “I laid it right here, but it’s gone. Touconte must have put it back on the shelf.”

“Find it and let’s get out of here.”

I followed Loki to the bookshelves. He swept the beam of the flashlight over the books.

I glanced around, keeping a watch for whatever it was that I felt.

Then I saw it. A weird light flickered briefly across the wall, across the painting. I blinked and it was gone. I turned, my eyes flitting over the area.

“Here it is,” Loki whispered beside me. I heard him pull the book off the shelf.

“Loki, did you see that?”

He shook his head. “No. What?”

“Some kind of…light.”

Loki turned around, but whatever it was had already vanished.

“It flashed across the wall over there,” I traced the path with my outstretched hand. “And quick as it appeared, it disappeared.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t this?” He moved the flashlight quickly, its yellow beam of light brushing across the wall over the fireplace.

I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t that. What I saw was more like light reflecting off a mirror.” I glanced around. “And there are no mirrors in this room.”

Loki remained silent, gripping his book tightly in his hands. Even though he was mortal now, I somehow got the feeling his senses were still heightened beyond a regular human’s. Sometimes he seemed to sense things I couldn’t…like right now.

I stood there, staring at him. And the longer I stared, the more freaked out I became. I won’t lie. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. And judging from our current circumstance, I secretly hoped that wasn’t more than a figure of speech.

“There’s something here…” he started softly.

The hair on my arms prickled. I moved closer to Loki, wrapping an arm around him.

Normally, I love creepy stuff and ghosts, but it’s one thing to read fictional ghost stories, and another thing entirely to be stuck in the middle of one.

Suddenly, the light flashed across the wall again…and it froze there…on the painting.

“Loki,” I breathed, “there it is. What _is_ that? There’s nothing here that could make it.”

Loki grasped me even tighter. “I-I-I think it’s a ghost.”

“I thought as much, but I was hoping you’d say something different.” I swallowed. “As if our problems aren’t bad enough as it is, now the place is haunted.”

Both of us stared in fascination as the light rippled and slowly moved across the picture. It descended slowly down the mantel and fireplace and moved across the floor. Our eyes followed it until it stopped at our feet.

My breath quickened, and I held on to Loki tighter, not really caring for the thing to be that close to me.

Without warning, it darted quickly away and to the door and stopped there.

We continued standing where we were, unmoving and watching to see what it did next.

It darted back to us, rippling like a flame, then it darted back to the door again.

“I think it wants us to follow it,” Loki said at last. I was too stunned to do anything, so he reached and took me by the hand. “Come on.”

The light led us into the foyer and stopped on the wall under the staircase.

“Why is it stopping there?” Loki asked.

“I don’t know.”

Finally getting my senses back, I walked forward. As soon as I approached the wall, the light flickered and disappeared. I don’t know why but the suddenness of the action caused me to involuntarily jump. Then I exhaled the breath I’d been holding.

I studied the wall but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. It was covered over with wallpaper, like the rest of the walls, and a bunch of miscellaneous pictures hung on it.

I rapped my knuckles against it, listening.

_Thud, thud, thud._

It sounded solid enough.

_Thud, thud, thud, clonk._

I stopped. I knocked my knuckle against the middle part again.

_Clonk!_

It sounded hollow.

I ran my hand along the wall until I felt a raised edge. It was flat, but there was a tall enough edge that I could feel.

“Loki, feel of this,” I whispered. “There’s a door here, underneath the wallpaper. It’s a small door from the look of it—a storage area perhaps.”

Loki ran his fingers along it. “You don’t think she…she has someone buried back there, do you?” He wiped his hand down his pants.

“I dunno.” I stood up. “We can’t open it now. Doing so means we’d have to rip off the wallpaper. How would we ever explain it?”

“She’d kill us, too.” Loki swallowed.

“I don’t think she’d have a body here. She doesn’t seem like the type who would…shove a body just anywhere.” I had a hard time getting out the words. “Still, there must be something behind here or the light—ghost—wouldn’t have showed it to us.”

“A map, maybe?”

I glanced at Loki. “Maybe…”

A creak came from our left, and light flooded the hallway.

“Hallo? Who’s there?”

The voice startled us, making us almost jump out of our skins.

We relaxed when we realized it was Harold. He was poking his head out of the kitchen door.

“It’s us, Harold,” I called out.

“Oh,” Harold stepped into the hallway. “What are ya doin’ up?”

“We…uh…”

“We couldn’t sleep,” Loki finished for me. I shot him an angry scowl.

“C’mon in, have some hot chocolate.”

We eagerly accepted the invitation, walking into the kitchen.

“Ya nearly scared me,” said Harold as he walked to the stove to tend to a kettle there. 

“The feeling’s mutual,” I said, forcing a nervous laugh.

“I hear such strange noises at night sometimes. I thought you were that,” Harold continued.

I exchanged a look with Loki. “What kind of…noises?”

Harold shrugged. “Don’t rightly know. They sometimes sound like thin’s movin’ ‘round.” He glanced over his shoulder and motioned for us to come around the center counter. “C’mon, sit. Make yerselves comfortable.”

I pulled up a chair and sat down. Loki eased down in his chair, hissing and wincing. 

“Ow…”

“Still tender?” Harold asked sympathetically.

Loki nodded then winced again.

“Here.” Harold walked to a closet next to the pantry and pulled out a pillow. He returned and handed it to Loki.

“Thank you.” Loki accepted the cushion and put it on the seat of his chair. He sat down again.

“Better?”

“Yes,” Loki said softly. He placed his book down on the counter.

“Touconte will keep you sore for a long time,” Harold said flatly.

“Are…are we allowed to borrow books from the library?” Loki asked, pointing at his book.

“Sure,” Harold answered. “Although, I can’t say anyone has ever done it ‘round here before since no one has time to read.” He placed two mugs in front of us along with two spoons and two packets of cocoa mix.

I picked up my packet and tore it open, dumping it into my mug. “Harold,” I started, “how long has Touconte been here?—in this house?”

“Don’t know,” he admitted. “Why do ya ask?”

“Just curious.”

“She was livin’ here when I arrived if that tells ya anythin’.”

“Do you know anything about the previous owners?” Loki asked.

Again, Harold shrugged. “I can’t say I’ve ever thought ‘bout it. I always ‘sumed Touconte was the original owner.”

“What about the painting of the woman in the parlor?” I asked. “Who is she?”

“There’s a paintin’ of a woman in there?”

“You’ve…never been in there?”

Harold shook his head. “Haven’t had a reason to.”

“Touconte made us clean it today,” said Loki, tracing the handle of his mug with a finger, “and that’s when we saw the painting—a woman wearing a white dress.”

“Could be just a paintin’ Touconte bought.”

Harold had a point, I’ll admit. But something in the back of my mind just wasn’t accepting it.

The kettle on the stove let out a loud squeal, and Harold turned to take it off. He poured its contents into each of our mugs and set it aside.

And for the next few minutes, the air between us was silent except for the tinkling of spoons as we stirred the cocoa mix into the hot water.

Loki took a sip of his and smiled. “It’s good,” he announced softly.

I reached over and brushed a lock of his hair out of his face and tucked it behind his ear and patted his back.

“So, are you two…” Harold pointed to each of us in turn.

Loki cleared his throat, throwing me a quick look.

“I…uh…no! Not at all. I’m his guardian.” I smiled. “It’s a…long, awkward story.”

“Ah, okay. Sorry,” Harold said.

“No harm done,” I replied, sipping my hot chocolate.

“Although, we could always be more than that…” Loki said, giving me a wistful look, taking another sip from his mug.

I punched his leg playfully, making him break out in a mischievous grin.

“Stop,” I chided gently.

Harold chuckled. “I thought it’d be awfully weird for a god to be married to a mortal.”

You apparently haven’t read much mythology, I thought to myself.

I cleared my throat. “So, you know what he is, then?”

“Everyone here does.”

That didn’t sound right to either of us.

“What does Touconte want with me?”

I turned to look at Loki, not believing he actually asked the question out loud.

Harold didn’t answer right away. Instead, he silently took the last sip of his hot chocolate, turned, and began washing out his mug in the sink.

“I’m not allowed to say,” he finally answered, putting the clean mug away in one of the cabinets.

“You’re not allowed or you don’t know?”

Harold tossed his dish towel onto the counter. “A little of both. Touconte doesn’t divulge her plans to tha rest of us. An’ if she did, I wouldn’t be allowed to say. So either way, I wouldn’t be able to answer your question. However, I can warn ya that anytime that she-devil has a plan, it ain’t good. And it ain’t good for those involved.”

Loki and I moved restlessly in our seats.

We thanked Harold for the hot chocolate and made our way back to my room.

“How could you?” I approached Loki once I had shut the door.

He blinked, confusion obvious on his face. “What?”

“You lied to Harold. He’s our ally, Loki.”

His mouth dropped open. “I didn’t lie!”

“Yes, you did. You told him we couldn’t sleep when he asked us why we were downstairs. You know perfectly well that we were down there to snoop around.”

Loki’s eyes fell to the floor. “Oh…”

I gave his bottom a gentle pat. “Don’t ever do that again. We need all the friends we can get right now. If Harold finds out you lied, he won’t trust us.”

“What would you rather I say? That we were down there to snoop?”

“No,” I answered. “Actually, I don’t know what the right answer would have been. Although, something tells me he would have understood the truth.”

“What’s done is done.” Loki rolled onto the bed.

After getting comfortable, we snuggled up together and read from the Grimm’s fairy tales book until Loki drifted off to sleep.


End file.
